Brothers in Arms: The Eastern World is Exploding
by Jack Hector Kamiya
Summary: AU plot of the Cold War. Hanai, Harima and Asou are drafted to fight in a war against North Korea and China. They are dragged into a horrifying fight for survivial with NATO. Rated M for graphic volence and language. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1: A Review of History

This an AU story of sorts. Basically it centers on Harima, Hanai, Asou, and a few other characters I create. I also plan on mashing characters from other animes with School Rumble such as characters from Bleach or Full Metal Panic. I've got the first eight chapters already written so I hope ya'll enjoy or I've wasted the past three weeks. The characters will start off at the end of their third and final year of high school, but at the time of their graduation war erupts in Korea. I've also changed the history of the Cold War a little; also my story takes place in the spring of 2010. Please review.

This chapter was updated: January 8, 2008: I've been reviewing my story and the format has changed some since I've start, so I'm revising it. I may not have a new chapter up for a little bit while I update the first 17 chapters, sorry ya'll, but it's got to be done.

Updated: May 6, 2008: I have now have one of my teachers helping me edit this chapter so I should have most of the grammar corrected this time.

* * *

**Chapter 1: A Review of History**

"Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat its mistakes"

Unknown (tell me if you know)

**2100 Hours; April 4th, 2010; Apartment of Osakabe Itoko; Yagami, Kanagawa Prefecture; Federation of Japan**

Harima Kenji was sitting down in his room in the apartment he 'sorta' shared with his cousin Osakabe Itoko, who'd been known to kick his ass out or leave him on the streets to fend for himself when she went on vacation. He was preparing to study for the final exam tomorrow, which would be history. Tani-sensei hinted that it would be on the events from the ending of World War II to today, mostly on the Cold War, whatever the hell that was.

He didn't really want to study. 'No! I can't slack off! This is for Tenma-chan,' he thought desperately. Feeling rejuvenated, he opened a text book and began to read:

'On May 8th, 1945, the Red Army of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic had been laying siege to Berlin for several days. After Adolf Hitler, leader of Nazi Germany, committed suicide, his successor Karl Dönitz surrendered to Allied and Soviet commanders Dwight David Eisenhower and Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov. This ended World War II in Europe and is commonly known as VE-Day or Victory in Europe Day. In early August the US dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, ending World War II on August 15th, 1945; it is known as VJ-Day or Victory over Japan Day.

Shortly after the ending of the war, Germany was broken up into the Soviet-controlled German Democratic Republic or East Germany, and the British, French, and American-controlled Republic of Germany or West Germany (1). US soldiers were being sent home from Europe after the surrender of Japan because they were drafted soldiers and could not be forced to stay in service without open war declared. British and French soldiers were exhausted after six long years of war against Nazi Germany. In East Germany, the Red Army was secretly being prepared for another war to seize the rest of Germany under communist control and to possibly overrun Western Europe.

On March 16th, 1946 a division of Soviet T-34s supported by infantry plowed out of the Soviet half of Berlin into the newly-formed West Berlin. Shortly after, the Soviet General-Secretary Joseph Stalin declared war on the newly-formed North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO (2). NATO, which only consisted of France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, was caught completely off guard. All American soldiers still in Germany, along with the French and British, were sent to make a stand on a defensive front stretching from Hamburg to Munich. Much to NATO's alarm, a force of 300,000 Soviet soldiers, tanks, and planes were storming into West Germany out of Eastern Europe.

Meanwhile, West German Chancellor Bernhard Schumacher watched as the Red Army and Air Force attacked his nation, yet again. In a bold move he ordered the reformation of the Deutsch Wehrmacht (German Military), but renamed it the Bundeswehr (Federal Forces) and declared war on the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic. Most of the German fuel supplies were destroyed or used up during World War II, which forced German soldiers to fight on foot. The Soviets were outraged at the sight of the German soldiers and so was NATO that a nation that they had just defeated and that was responsible for the murder of 11 million people that became known as the Holocaust, was now mobilizing again for war. Despite uneasiness and ill feelings towards the Germans, NATO had no choice, but to allow Germany to assist them in the fight against the Red Army. At the time, the Bundeswehr made up roughly 70 percent of NATO forces in Germany.

In the winter of 1946, when fuel was given to the German Panzer Korp (tank corps), the Germans were able to mobilize the Panzers and Luftwaffe (Air Force). The Germans rallied and led NATO to fight the Soviet juggernaut to a stalemate. By May 18th, 1947 NATO was able to push back the newly-formed Warsaw Pact to the Polish border and the edges of the USSR's Eastern European Blocs. Shortly after, General Zhukov, on General-Secretary Stalin's behalf, signed a peace treaty with NATO, which now included the newly-formed Federal Republic of Germany and the liberated Republic of Austria. Although the One Year NATO-Soviet War had ended, a permanent divide between Eastern and Western Europe had been formed. As British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, said, "An iron curtain is descending upon Europe".'

* * *

**2130 Hours; April 4th, 2010; Itoko's Apartment, Yagami; Kanagawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

Harima took a deep breath. He could only take in so much information at once without losing his mind; he wasn't used to trying so hard in school. He couldn't help but think that some of this might make an interest manga. 'Mmmnn… I must ask Imōto-san about it later' he thought. 'Well back to work.' He read on:

'Many world leaders had hoped this would be the end of the fighting. Unfortunately, to everyone's surprise, including the Soviets, the Democratic People's Republic of (North) Korea invaded the Republic of (South) Korea on June 25th, 1950 with roughly 135,000 troops, 242 tanks, and 180 planes (3). Soviet General-Secretary Stalin had every intention of ignoring North Korean Premier Kim-Il-sung's invasion of the south. South Korean President Syngman Rhee and US Army General Douglas MacArthur convinced US President Harry S. Truman to send a United Nation's coalition, consisting mostly of NATO (4) troops, to Korea.

President Truman, however, believed that this was a diversion for a second invasion of Germany. Many of the US soldiers drafted for the Korean War were sent to Europe for an invasion that would never come. Meanwhile the situation in Korea had gone from bad to dire. The surviving soldiers of the Army of the Republic of Korea (ARoK) and the US forces prepared to make a last stand at Pusan (or Busan) on the southern coast of Korea.

Fortunately, NATO reinforcements arrived just in time to stop the People's Korean Army (PKA) from overrunning Pusan. NATO pushed the KPA out of the south and back to the north. With MacArthur's assurances that the People's Republic of China would not interfere in the war, NATO launched a deep invasion of North Korea that reached a few short kilometers of the Yalu River. China's Premier Mao Zedong panicked when NATO soldiers approached within kilometers of his borders. NATO even attacked bases in China near the border from the air, though in all fairness, they were supplying North Korean soldiers. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) plowed across the Yalu River that separated China and North Korea and into the NATO forces. Unsurprisingly, President Truman fired General MacArthur and replaced him with General Matthew Ridgway.

General Ridgway was forced out of the north by the combined attack of PLA and KPA soldiers. Three years of stalemate would ensue from the day China entered the war to July 27th, 1953 when a ceasefire was signed. Two and a half miles that are known as the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separates the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea. The 'peace' is often punctuated by small shootouts between border guards, and tension is always high. North Korea's desire to seize the south continues with the current leader President Kim Jong-Il. To make matters worse, a ceasefire is not the same as a peace treaty; NATO and South Korea are still technically at war with North Korea.'

* * *

**2234 Hours; April 4th, 2010; Itoko's Apartment, Yagami; Kanagawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

Harima decided to take a dinner break. That last bit about the war still being on in Korea bothered him since Korea wasn't that far away. "I wonder if that would ever affect me?" Harima wondered out loud. He quickly ate his instant noodles and returned to work. He was starting to find the subject mildly interesting.

'Possibly the scariest moment of the Cold War was the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis. In the 1950's Fidel Castro led the Cuban people in an open revolt against the U.S. Government, which had taken control of Cuba since the end of the Spanish-American War in the late 19th century. To remove Castro, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) proposed Operation: Bay of Pigs, which would have anti-Castro Cubans and American advisors invade Cuba. The KGB, a Soviet equivalent of the CIA, warned their ally, Cuba, of the operation. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy wanted the operation to appear 'Cuban' and only allowed one air strike from the United States Air Force (USAF). The Cuban Rebels were annihilated without the air support.

As if the situation could not get worse, a recon plane revealed that the Soviets had placed medium-range nuclear missiles in Cuba. After long and intense negotiations between President Kennedy and Soviet General-Secretary Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev, they managed to end the crisis and to get the US and the USSR on speaking terms. Many of first agreements and treaties on nuclear weapons were reached after the Cuban Missile Crisis. Both Kennedy and Khrushchev would not be in office for much longer. Khrushchev was removed from office because of the fiasco that the Cuban Missile Crisis created; Kennedy was shot and assassinated on November 22nd, 1963.

The next major moment in the Cold War was the Second Indochina War or the Vietnam War as it is known in the United States. The reasons for entering Vietnam are the subject of much controversy in the US, but most agree that the US wanted to prevent the 'Domino Effect' which was a theory that if one country became communist, they all would. Following the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, the Vietnam War officially began in 1965. However, today it was proven that the Gulf of Tonkin Incident was not an unprovoked attack by the North Vietnamese, but the North Vietnamese responding to what they believed was another attack on their shores after a previous South Vietnamese attack. For seven long years the United States of America was locked in the second most controversial war it had ever fought. It would divide the nation and bring about the issues of racism, civil rights, freedoms, and government power to light. In 1972 US President Richard Milhous Nixon withdrew US forces from Vietnam ending land action in Vietnam. In the Third Indochina War (1972-1975), South Vietnam was defeated and assimilated into the north. The Vietnam War, which largely was considered a huge disaster by the US population, along with the Watergate Scandal caused many Americans to lose their confidence and respect for the Federal Government.

The Soviet Union took great pleasure in mocking the US after Vietnam and the Watergate Scandal with President Nixon, which resulted in Nixon's near impeachment and eventual resignation. Soon the Soviets were being mocked for their disastrous invasion of Afghanistan which started December 25th, 1979 and ended February 15th, 1989; the US loving calls this war 'The Soviet's Vietnam'. In addition to the Soviets problems in Afghanistan, on April 26th, 1986 the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, a nation part of the USSR, suffered the world's worst nuclear melt down which displaced over 50,000 Ukrainians and spread a radiation cloud over the entire European Continent. Over 25 years later, Chernobyl is still extremely radioactive and is only inhabited by a small fraction of its original population. The Soviets continually monitor the area to make sure terrorist organizations do not attempt to steal any equipment or possible uranium still in the plant.

Both the United States and the Soviet Union both went into an economic decline during the late 1980's. Other nations like the People's Republic of China, the Republic of Korea, the Federation of Japan, and the oil rich nation of the Middle East saw massive economic growth. China saw huge economic booms in mass producing cheap household products which did every well overseas and encourage China to experiment in other areas of business. Japan managed to establish itself in the '70s as a major auto maker and exporter. By the '80s Japan was asserting itself as an electronic giant that it is known for internationally today. The Middle Eastern nations like Iraq, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates had made huge sums of money in selling oil. Many Middle Eastern nations bought military equipment from the USSR and established relations with the Soviets, although they were not close ties they were strong than the ones Middle Eastern nations had with US, NATO, or the NATO backed nation Israel.

In 1989 President Sadden Hussein of the Republic of Iraq launched an invasion of State of Kuwait after his earlier failed invasion of Iran in the mid '80s. On January 17th, 1991 the United Nations passed a resolution to use military force to remove the Iraqis from Kuwait. US General Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf commanded the UN Coalition and defeated the Iraqi Army in February 28th, 1991. The US withdrew from Iraq shortly after.

The US under President William Jefferson Clinton was also seeing some economic growth and recovery from the decline of the 1980s, but towards the end of his presidency things were turning bad again with the Internet Bubble Burst. There was also his wife's failed attempt at creating national health care system. The worse was the 'inappropriate relationship' between President Clinton and intern Monica Samille Lewinsky.

Also since the 1980s and the talks between President Ronald Wilson Regan and General-Secretary Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, the United States and Soviet Union were enjoying real peace between their respective nations.

September 11th, 2001 would ultimately change the United States when a terrorist group known as al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial airliners and destroyed the World Trade Centers and damaged the Pentagon, US Military Command. The US launched an invasion of Afghanistan which al-Qaeda's leaders were believed to be hiding in.

Next came what is considered to be the most controversial war the United States ever fought. On March 20th, 2003, US President George Walker Bush launched Operation: Iraqi Freedom; the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Although the US and its allies won an easy victory over Sadden Hussein, it would become very clear that President Bush had no real plan for the occupation or reconstruction of the country. The War in Iraq would polarize the US population and even the entire government in ways the Vietnam War couldn't begin. To this day the reason for the invasion is still not clear, but many believe it was over oil, but there is still no clear answer. Other problem would plague the Bush Administration such as poor health care plans, an incompetent administration, the devastation in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, the controversial Patriot Act and other homeland security programs, and much more.

During the US's turmoil, Soviet General-Secretary Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (5) was pulling the Soviet Union out of its economic slump. He expanded industry out put, oil production, natural gas, took advantage of the fact the Russia was on of the few nations with uranium mines, helped suppress organize crime in the USSR, and began a massive expansion of the Red Army, Navy, and Air Force.

In 2008 to the shock of the US government who had expected Hilary Clinton, Romney, or Barak Obama (6) to win the presidential elections. Michelle Smith Crane became the first woman president in US history. She was also, as a member of the Independent Party, the first president since 13th President Millard Fillmore that was neither a Republican nor a Democrat. President Crane systematically reformed most of former President Bush's law; namely the Patriot Act. She began to refocus the national budget on domestic policy such as the reconstruction of New Orleans, pushing for better food health standards, a national energy policy, solving the national debt, and the making a national health care program.

She also removed troops from Iraq because the US military was then too overextended and she decided to split Iraq into three nations; Southern Iraq, Northern Iraq, and Kurdistan. Unfortunately, civil war exploded between North and South Iraq, but most consider that unavoidable. Today Iraq is one country, however the Republic of Kurdistan with US backing remained independent. The current Republic of Iraq is a military-dictatorship like before the US invasion. Kurdistan unlike its neighbors has a stable government and is friendly to the President Crane because her support has allowed Kurdistan to remain sovereign. US soldiers have also begun a withdrawal from Afghanistan after creating what is hoped to a stable government, but that remains to be seen. The US military is now returning to their bases in Germany, Guam, Wake, Puerto Rico, South Korea, Japan, and US homeland. As a safeguard to prevent the president from sending troops into another 'fiasco', Congress added laws to ensure the Senate would have the final say in going to war or a major military action that was defined by a certain amount of troops and money.

President Crane is also on friendly terms with the current Soviet leader General-Secretary Nikolay Alexandrovich Bolotnikov. Bolotnikov took office after his predecessor General-Secretary Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev who disappeared with his plane while in transit of central Russia. President Crane policy is in her words, "I hope to rebuild this nation from the domestic to the international. Though I fear I've only starched the surface, I feel it is a start. I cannot promise much will be accomplished under my administration, but I will make sure the next President will have much more to work with than I did." President Crane stands as one of the most popular presidents since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Despite high hopes for a peaceful future, the 38th Parallel Demilitarized Zone that separates Korea, the Iron Curtain that runs from the German-Polish border on the Baltic Sea to the Italian-Croatian border on the Adriatic Sea, the middle of the Bering Sea the separates the USSR and the United States, the Israeli-Arab borders, and other such fronts of the Cold War stand as barriers today that have no sign of them being removed.'

Harima felt his head spin at all the facts that he had just read. He had taken notes while reading and he began to review them. By midnight he has praying he had learned enough to pass tomorrow and go to the same college as his Tenma-chan.

* * *

**1530 Hours; April 5th, 2010; Yagami High School, Yagami; Kanagawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

Harima sat at his desk. He didn't know how well or badly he had done on his test. He watched as his classmates talking nervously to each other while waiting for the results. He saw Imadori chatting up some girls who seemed dumb enough to fall for his pick-up lines. Fuyuki taking pictures of class for an end-of-year-album he was making. Yoshidayama Jirō, the wannabe delinquent who was overshadowed by Harima, just glaring at Harima for reasons Harima didn't understand. 'Did I do something to him?' Harima wonder.

Then he saw her… and her friends too, but who cares about them. 'My poor Tenma-chan she looked so tired and depressed from her tests, I must do something cheer her up,' he thought. Suddenly, Sawachika Eri or as he called her 'Ojō-sama' caught his eye and she gave him her death glare. He decided to approach them later.

Then Harima saw Hanai Haruki. 'Four-eyes… mmnnn what was his name, I could never remember. I should remember this too, he's about the same height as me, similar body build, and similar strength, but I sure I'm stronger than him,' Harima though. Unlike Harima, Hanai kept his hair neater and wore glasses. Harima like to keep my hair slicked back and wear sunglasses.

Hanai puffed himself up in front of Harima and asked in his authoritative tone, "So Harima-kun did you study for your exams?"

"Hai," Harima said simply.

"Good, good," he said as though he didn't believe me, "Did you do well?"

"I don't know yet."

"Ano (um)…" said a voice next the two of them. Tani-sensei handed him a piece of paper.

"Ā, arigato sensei" Harima said with his best attempt at politeness. He looked at the

paper and saw my score was '06'.

"Oh I see I got a… WHAT THE FUCKING HELL IS THIS!? I STUDIED HALF THE NIGHT!" Harima screamed so load that everyone turned to face him.

"Ano… Harima-kun you're holding your paper upside down." Said Tani-sensei who seemed in shock at Harima's burst of rage.

"Oh" he said as if nothing happened which caused everyone to sweat-drop. Harima turned the page over and he saw it was a 90, "OH YEAH BABY! THIS IS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! Wow, who would have thought that studying really does help you pass."

Almost everyone stared at Harima in shock, not that he noticed. He turned and gave Tenma a thumbs-up. She stared at him, crossed her arms, and went into deep thought. After a few minutes she gave the thumbs-up back to Harima even though she had no clue why. Harima didn't seem to notice or maybe he didn't care.

Tani-sensei smiled and thought, 'I'm proud of all of you.' He watched his student celebrate. He decided to let his students to have the day off since there wasn't anything left to do and school would let out soon. He sat at his desk and turned on his computer. He started to check the news reports. He read in his head the headlines, 'U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan to be complete in 3 months, Protests in France turn violent, Apple announces new iPhone to be released in 2011, … oh what's this?' A news update had appeared. It read 'Scattered Reports of North Korean Attack'. That can't be right.

Tani-sensei clicked on it and read, 'Today, March 4th, 2010, a reporter gave a phone call that was cut off saying the North Koreans were attacking, says the BBC. Although the call was not complete, it definitely said that North Korean soldiers were attacking South Korean soldiers. The US Department of Defensive stated that they were having trouble reaching their commanders or any of the 40,000 US soldiers stationed in Korea. US commanders in Japan are currently sending recognizance planes to investigate these reports. US President Crane has refused to make a statement until she gets a fuller report.'

Tani-sensei put on a set of headphones clicked on a link to hear the audio recording of the news reporter's call, "As you hear there is a lot of artillery fire -**BOOM**- I don't know how long I can stay -**BOOM**- but the South Korea Army is starting to retreat in the face of this massive North Korean attack. The situation here is dire and…" Static filled Tani's ears. He looked up at his students. They were having so much fun. He decided not to mention anything, how could this affect Japan?

* * *

**2040 Hours; April 4th, 2010; Oval Office, White House; Washington DC, United States of America** (7)

A petite brown hair woman in her late forties sat behind her desk. Although she appeared to be reading a memo she was really waiting to get a report from her generals in Japan. A bolding bespectacled man entered the room. She looked up and nodded in greeting.

"Evening Michelle," Greeted Vice-President Doug Mather.

Shortly after, generals and admirals entered the room.

"Good evening Madam President," they greeted.

"Good evening gentlemen, who has the report I've been waiting for?" asked President Crane not wanting to waste any more time.

"I do Madam President" said US Pacific Commander, Admiral Timothy Keating (8).

"Please, go ahead" said President Crane, trying to hide the stress she been under all day.

He stood up, slipped a disk into a disk drive, and turned to face a monitor. He said, "The pictures were taken by a U2 spy plane of the 5th Air Force. We still haven't reached the commanders of the 8th Army or 7th Air Force, but as you can see the situation is grave. Some 3,000,000 KPA troops are storming across the DMZ in the ROK (Republic of Korea). We don't know if China, the Middle East Coalition (MEC) (9), or the Soviets are part of this."

"I doubt the MEC is part of this attack. It seems too far out of their interests, not to mention pretty far from their borders," said US SOCOM Commander, Admiral Eric Olson (10).

"I agree with Admiral Olson. I think it's the PLA we need to worry about" said Commandant of the Marine Corps, General James Conway (11).

"But what do we do? We have to present a case to the Senate to pass a declaration of was," asked Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General Henry Arnold (12).

"That won't matter. We have troops in the ROK and a mutual protection treaty with the South too. Plus the President Eisenhower only signed a ceasefire in '53 so we're still technically at war," said President Crane. She sighed and continued, "I think we're done for now. I'm going to call the Moscow and Beijing."

The generals and admirals left while President Crane reached for a red phone. She hesitated. Premier Bolotnikov wasn't a bad guy, but because of the history between her country and his country always created a high level of tension she wasn't keen on making this call.

* * *

**2345 Hours; April 5th, 2010; the Kremlin, Moscow, Moscow Special Administrative P****rovince, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic; Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic**

Premier Nikolay Bolotnikov sat in his office the Kremlin. It was very late at night and no one else seemed to be awake, a feeling he loved. He liked this time when he felt the nothing can bother him for a few hours, then came a knock on his door.

'Uh-oh' he thought, 'This can't be good. My staff knows not to bother me this late unless it's important.'

An intelligence officer in a KGB uniform entered the Bolotnikov's office. He saluted and said in a loud military tone, "Comrade General-Secretary, I have urgent news."

'So much for my peace and quiet' Bolotnikov thought and said, "Go ahead."

The intelligence officer handed him a file and said, "Comrade General Polikov in Vladivostok reports the Army of the People's Democratic Republic of Korea is invading the Republic of Korea."

"It's probably another border skirmish. It's nothing to worry about" answered Bolotnikov annoyed that he was bothered for no reason.

"Nyet (no) Comrade General-Secetary, he sent a Tu-22 to investigate the reports of an attack and he says that there are millions of KPA soldiers attacking."

Bolotnikov slammed the file on the table in anger and yelled, "Damn you Kim Jong-Il! That bastard, what is he thinking?! Does he think he can invade the Republic of Korea and expect the Americans to do nothing?" He couldn't believe that Kim Jong-Il could do something so stupid. 'Mmnnn… maybe if I'm lucky the Americans would remove Kim Jong-Il from power and make my life much easier,' he thought angrily.

"Comrade General-Secretary, what should we do?"

He thought for a second and said, "Tell all commanders in the Far East not to take any action or do anything stupid. I'm going to call President Crane. Also have the ministers assemble for an emergency Politburo meeting."

"Da (yes) Comrade General-Secretary!" said the officer snapping to attention.

The KGB officer left the room and Bolotnikov said to himself, "I hope the Rodina (motherland) doesn't get dragged into this war."

* * *

If anyone was offended by my version of the Cold War, then I'm sorry. It wasn't my intention to upset anyone. Please tell me what you think; I really would like peoples' opinions.

Updated January 8, 2008: There may not be any new chapters for a while. It shouldn't take me too long to may some necessary improvements though.

Updated May 6, 2008: Sorry if the timeline and some of the terminology doesn't make sense, but I'm trying to clean up the first chapter a little. I'll correct some of the others too later on.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. In actuality, Germany was broken up into the Federal Republic of (West) Germany and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).

2. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was actually formed on April 4th, 1949. Germany did not join NATO for several years after NATO's formation, much later than the date I wrote on here which is for the purposes of my story.

3. Those are actual statistics of the North Korean invasion of the South Korea back in 1950.

4. The coalition sent to Korea was a United Nation's coalition, the first one to be formed. Several nations that were in Korea were also in NATO, but it was not an official NATO war.

5. Vladimir Putin is the leader of the Russian Federation. He was once a senior member of the KGB and one of the founders of the KGB's successor the FSB.

6. I didn't think it was wise to pick an actual candidate as President of the United States in my story so I created a fictional one.

7. It should be noted that there is several time zones and the International Date Line between the eastern United States and Japan. It would be 15:40 (3:40pm) April 5th, 2010 in Japan.

8. Admiral Timothy Keating is the commander of US Pacific Command. The Pacific Command includes Eastern Asia in its jurisdiction.

9. The Middle Eastern Coalition is a fictional alliance of the Middle Eastern nations. I got the name and idea from the game Battlefield 2, all rights owned by EA Games.

10. Admiral Eric Olson is the real commander of the Special Operation Command (SOCOM). It includes the command of all US special forces units such as the Green Beret, Navy SEALs, or Task Force Delta.

11. General James Conway is the real general who is in charge of the United States Marine Corps (USMC). He is one of the members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

12. General Henry Arnold is the real general who is in charge of the United States Air Force (USAF). He is one of the members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.


	2. Chapter 2: A World in Conflict

Here is the next chapter. I'm kinda making it up as I go along. I planned out the plot of the war, but how my characters interact is what I need to work on. Hope no one minds. I don't own any anime, manga, or any product mentioned in my story. I used the names of some real politicians and generals, but I tried to make up fake ones. Any real person I mentioned I will try not to make them look bad or slander them, unless it's someone like Hitler who deserves it.

Updated: January 8, 2008

* * *

**Chapter 2: A World in Conflict**

"Older men declare war, but it is the young that must fight and die"

Former US President Herbert Hoover, in reference to World War I

**0450 Hours; April 6****th****, 2010; Joint Chiefs of Staff Briefing Room, the Pentagon; Arlington, Virginia; United States of America**

US commanders had assembled in a Pentagon conference room used by the Joint Chiefs of Staff which had a monitor at one end and a camera aimed at it.

"Corporal, is the com-link online yet?" asked General Conway impatiently.

"Almost… ready in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and were online sir," responded the soldier.

The screen of the monitor lit up and several other conference rooms were revealed. In the top left corner was the Royal British Military Staff, the top middle was the Deutsch Bundeswehr (German Military) Command Staff, the top right was the French Armed Forces Commanders, the bottom left was the Royal Canadian Military Staff, the bottom middle was blank except for the NATO insignia, and the bottom right was the Turkish Military Generals and Admirals.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Peter Pace (1) spoke, "Ladies and gentlemen of NATO, I am glad you have joined us today."

"Where are the Greeks, Belgians, Dutch, and the rest?" asked British Admiral Henry Stevens.

"They didn't want to be part of this," General Pace calmly answered, "but I want to discuss the issue at hand about Korea."

"General Pace, I fail to see why this should be the problem of the European Union (EU) Europe or Canada," said one of the French generals.

"You don't? Doesn't Europe buy many products from the Far East?" asked General Pace.

"Primarily we buy from China or Japan, but there is an increase in Korean products recently," said German General Anne Grunwald mildly, clearly not wanting to commit herself.

"I know there are many reason to defend the Republic of Korea, my nation does do a lot of business with South Korea, but what about the Soviets?" asked Canadian General Robert Trudeau.

"That is a fair question," said General Pace, "Soviet Premier Bolotnikov assures our President that he isn't involved and there is no movement in Vladivostok or Sakhalin to suggest the Soviets are part of this. Chinese Premier Lao Zhang also says he has no involvement in the North Korean attack on the south, but he has moved troops to the Yalu River so he may be something to worry about. North and South Korea are the only nations that are engage in open war right now."

"What about the Japanese Self-Defense Forces?" asked Turkish General Mustafa Pamuk.

"The Japanese are not part of NATO nor do they have any alliance with South Korea… actually the Koreans and Japanese don't really like each other, but the Diet is passing a motion to draft people and raise a larger military in case they are attacked too. For now it is only a precaution and I don't think they believe this is going to be their war," said Admiral Keating.

"So… what do you want us to do?" asked Admiral Stevens.

"… send troops to repel the KPA and send them back. I pray this will not be another Vietnam or Iraq," General Pace said slowly.

"So this is a NATO war. Will it provoke China into war?" asked French Admiral Charles Racette.

"I don't know, but I doubt they will stay out of this war for long."

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**0900 Hours; April 9****th****, 2010; Yagami High School; Yagami Japan**

Harima pulled his motorcycle into a parking lot at the school. The government was drafting people between 18 and 40 for the Self-Defense Forces; Harima had been drafted. They were using the school a place to examine people for a physical exam and interview them to make sure they were not insane or something, or at least that's what the letter he received said.

As he walked down a hallway he saw Tsukamoto Yakumo, or as he called her Imōto-san (little sister), exit a room and a man in uniform saying, "I'm terribly sorry about this mix up, but someone though you were the older sibling and gave you the letter by mistake."

Imōto-san nodded, "It wasn't a problem, though I hope you don't take my sister either."

"Yo, Imōto-san" Harima greeted.

"Harima-sempai? What are you doing here?" she asked, sounding a little worried.

"I was drafted. You?"

"There was a mix up, they thought I was 18… are you going to…"

"Going to?" asked Harima dumbly.

"War?" she almost whispered, not meeting his eyes.

"Oh right, that… mmnnn… I guess." She looked like she upset.

"… be careful… onigai (please)," she pleaded sounding upset.

Harima considered her for a moment, when it came down to it she was his only friend and it seemed like he should do something to cheer her up. "AH! I'm too badass for these North Dakotans to beat."

Yakumo was too happy to hear he'll be careful to tell him he was going to fight the North Koreans.

"Harima Kenji?" asked another military man.

"Hai."

"Step in here onigai," he said indicating an empty classroom.

"Whatever," Harima said not really caring. He entered the classroom and sat down at a desk facing the teacher's desk where the man seated himself.

"Right then, you are Harima Kenji, you are 18 years old, born in the town of Yagami of the Kanagawa Prefecture, you are a Japanese citizen, and you are reasonably healthy, right?" asked the man reading from a file. Harima nodded.

"Right then, I'm gonna do a physical exam, okay?"

"Whatever."

The man proceeded to measure Harima's weight, height, reflexes, eye sight, health, and hearing. A second man then asked Harima some question and took notes to test Harima's metal state.

"Congratulations Harima-san, you passed and now you are part of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces."

Harima was surprised; he'd forgotten why he was there, "So… now what?"

"You are going to be trained as a soldier. If Japan goes to war you may be called into service. For now you may choose whether you want the Ground Forces, Maritime Forces, or Air Forces."

Harima nodded and left the room.

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**2030 Hours; April 9****th****, 2010; a local Chinese restaurant; Yagami, Japan**

"So what happened to everyone?" asked Suo-san; everyone had gathered that evening in the Chinese restaurant that Asou-kun worked.

Nara-kun stood up and said, "I was accepted and I plan to sign up for the Air-Defense Forces."

Nishimoto-kun spoke up, "I was rejected. They said I was too overweight." Many tried unsuccessfully to not laugh.

Umezu-kun said, "I passed, I going to the Maritime-Defense Forces."

Kido-san said, "I plan to do the same."

Yoshidayama-kun said proudly, "Of course they took me." He didn't mention he'd only been taken into the Home Guard, a force for people who just barely qualify.

Tōgō-kun proudly said, "They say I could train for the special forces."

Mackenzie-kun said, "I'm an American citizen, so they can't let me join the Japanese Military. Lala-chan can't go because she is a Mexican citizen."

Sawachika-san nodded, "Same here. Even though I hold duel citizenship, they worry about an international incident with the British Government, so they won't take me."

Yūki-san quietly said, "I passed, but they said it might be a good idea if I take a desk job because I lack physical strength. I was thinking about the Maritime Forces myself."

Ōtsuka-san said, "They say I'm a natural leader and I might be officer material for the Ground Forces."

It continued on like that with Ichijo going to the Maritime Infantry of the Maritime Self-Defense Forces, a rough Japanese equivalent of a marine corps and was called the marines (2). Karasuma had signed onto the Home Guard as an AA crewman, and until finally they reached Tsukamoto, Suo, Hanai, Asuo, and Harima.

"I'm going for the marines. So I'll be in the Maritime Forces" said Suo-san proudly.

"I was thinking I join the Ground Forces" said Asuo-kun while he served food to people.

"Same," said Harima and Hanai. They glared at each other and entered a staring contest.

"Um… they… wouldn't take me," said Tsukamoto-san ashamed. Harima was mad that the military couldn't see the strength his Tenma-chan had, but he was far more relieved that she wouldn't be in any danger. He was actually surprised how many people had been drafted.

'I wonder what will happen?' he thought looking out the window towards the starry sky.

"Hey guys! No matter what happens, let's all meet here when were done training. Okay? Think of it as my last order as class president," Ōtsuka-san said. They all nodded in agreement. Harima only vaguely nodded.

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**0700 Hours; April 11****th****, 2010; Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force's training ground, near the Northern HQ; outside of Sendai, Japan**

"Ohaiyo (good morning) troopers," yelled a man in a US Army uniform, "I am Master Sergeant Green and I will be your worse nightmare until you finish your trainings! DO YOU UNDERSTAND!?!"

"Hai!" a group of Japanese recruits yelled back.

"I can't hear you!" roared Master Sergeant Green.

"HAI!" they yelled louder.

"Good then drop and give my 50 slack-asses!"

Harima, Hanai, Asuo, Ōtsuka, and some 30 other people began push ups. Harima from all his fight, Asuo and Ōtsuka from sports, and Hanai from his martial arts were in really good shape and finished in no time. The other recruits were having a harder time with the task.

The first week was all running, jumping, and other such physical exercises. The next week was weapons training.

"This is the Type 98 assault rifle. It has two triggers one is semi-auto; the second can be change between 3-round burst and full-auto. It comes with a bipod that can me easily folded or removed if you want. It can mount a bayonet. Some of you will get it with an M203 grenade launcher. Understand?" said Master Sergeant Green.

"HAI!" they yelled in response.

"This is the Sig P-226 handgun built by the German-Swiss company Schweizersche Indistrie Gesellschaft Sauer (SIG Sauer) and imported by many countries including yours as a standard sidearm," said Master Sergeant Green showing them a P-226. "It fires 9x19mm Parabellum from a 15 round clip."

Next he showed two different SMGs. "This is the FN P-90 made by FN Herstal and the H&K MP-5 by Heckler & Koch. The P-90 fires 5.7x28mm from a 50 round clip mounded above the barrel. It has a laser dot scope and can mount a suppresser. It has semi-auto, burst, and full-auto. It has an effective range of 200m. The MP-5 comes in many versions; the A3 has a fixed stock, A5 has a retractable stock, and SD is silenced. Primarily you'll use the A3 and A5 and you may be issued a laser dot scope. It uses the 9x19mm has an effective range of 200m." (3)

"This is the FN Minimi light machine gun. The US has a version known as the M-249 SAW. It fires the 5.52x45mm cartridge feed by a 200 round mag mounted under the gun. Has a rate of fire of 725 rounds per minute and an effective range of 1,000m."

"Next is the M-24 sniper rifle build by Remington. It uses the Winchester .300 magnums or NATO 7.62x51mm. It is bold-action and has a 5 round internal magazine, cans with a x8 or x12 zoom scope, and comes with a detachable bipod. It also has an effective range of 800m, but it could be longer depending on skill of the sniper and the type of munitions. This is the M-21 semi-auto sniper rifle (4). It's like the M-24, but uses a 10 to 20 round NATO 7.62x51mm round and is basically identical to the M-14 rifle."

He a number of different weapons on the table. "This is the M-67 fragmentation grenade. It has a 4 second fuse and an effective radius of 5m. This is the AT4 anti-tank rocket launcher (5). It fires an 84mm High Explosive Anti-Tank, or HEAT, that penetrates 42cm of amour, HEDP or High Explosive Dual Purpose for buildings and it can be timed delayed, and High Penetration or HP that penetrates 50-60cm of amour. This is the Remington 870 shotgun. It holds eight 12-guage shells, pump-action, and is useful to blast open doors as well as enemy soldiers. Okay, I want everyone to familiarize yourselves with each of these guns."

"Hai!" they all yelled as they stood up to gather a gun.

Then the next two weeks were spent learning about tactics, survival, how to identify their allies and enemies, and what they might see in Korea.

"The base of a ground forces is the infantry squad. A squad consists of 10-16 soldiers divided into 4 teams. The first team or command team has the squad leader and the radio man. The squad leader will lead the squad and the radio man provides a link to support options like fighter-bombers or artillery. The second team or fire team has a team leader and 2-3. They are heavily armed and provide defense and a shit load of firepower on the enemy to suppress them. The third team or assault team is lightly armed and is useful for rapid attacks and pressing close quarters with the enemy. The forth team or crew serve team various. The may be a heavy machine gun team, a mortar team, an engineer team with demolition charges or special equipment, an AT team with a Type-87 chu-MAT, or AA team with a Type 91 hand-held surface to air missile launcher (SAM). About 3-5 squads make up a platoon, 3-6 platoons to a company, 3-4 companies to a battalion, 3-4 battalions to a regiment, 3-4 regiments to a brigade, 3-4 brigades to a division, 3-4 divisions to a corps, and 2-3 to an Army.

Mainly you really need to be worried about your own squad, maybe your platoon, and at the most your company. Squad tactics revolve mainly around the fire team and the assault teams. The fire team uses is a bit slow, but can lay down heavy firepower to pin down the enemy while the assault team flanks the suppressed enemy. The crew team generally determines your main role in a platoon. The command team is in charge of the squad and can communicate with the rest of the unit or other units." (6)

All time news came from the front. Japan still wasn't at war with North Korea. NATO had deployed their first wave of soldiers. Despite their efforts (7) had fallen and now Seoul was under siege. The Soviets had avoided any part of this war other than trying to convince North Korea to withdrawal from the south. China still hadn't made it clear whose side they were on, but it was starting to look like they were siding with the North Koreans.

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**1303 Hours; May 7****th****, 2010; the Japanese Prime Minister's Office; Tokyo; Tokyo Prefecture, Japan**

Japanese Prime Minister Aokami Shin was reviewing the number of reverse troops. It worried him that all the veterans of Japan had along ago retired or died since World War II. More and more it was looking like his nation would have to join the war that was raging only a few hundred kilometers west of him.

'I can only hope these children will be able to defend our nation,' he thought. He looked at the photo of his son and daughter who were also training somewhere in Japan. He frowns and thought, "The Koreans don't really even like us, why should this be our problem?"

"Aokami-shushō (Prime Minister Aokami)?" said a soft woman's voice. He looked up to see his secretary Sakata Ayumu.

"Hai?" he asked fearing that look in her eyes spoke of bad news.

"French soldiers were attacked north of Seoul by a group of fighter-bombers."

"Well they are at war over there."

"The planes were People's Liberation Air Force (PLAF) Q-5 Fantans."

"NANI (what)?! I thought the Chinese weren't in the war," Prime Minister Aokami said in horrior.

"I was just informed they declared war on South Korea 30 minutes ago."

He sighed and said, "Arigato Sakata-san. Please keep me updated."

"Hai," she said quietly with a bow.

'I envy her composure,' Prime Minister Aokami thought. He looked at a red phone on his desk labeled 'Washington DC'. He picked it up and pressed a button.

"Hello," asked a female voice in English.

Prime Minister Aokami spoke in his best English, "President Crane, this is Prime Minister Aokami. I was informed that China was entered the war."

He heard her sigh and say, "Yes. It seems they have their own agenda and so they're fighting."

"Agenda? What could that be?"

"Were not sure, but they are attacking the South Koreans and anyone defending them."

Prime Minister Aokami broke out into a cold sweat. He'd been threatened by Kim Jong-Il before and Aokami's predecessors had been threatened by China; both countries had a grudge against Japan from when Japan occupied their nations and the amounts of abuse Japan had inflicted upon their nations. He knew there were also economic reasons such as eliminating China's three biggest competitors: Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan.

"…thank you," was all he could say before President Crane hung up.

He sat in his chair for several minutes to let the truth sink in. 'I can't just sit here,' he thought.

"Aokami-shushō, I just received a report from the 2nd Escort Fleet," said Sakata-san who had just reentered the room.

"Dare I ask?" the Prime Minister asked resigned to the worse.

"Three of our frigates were attacked by planes and one frigate was sunk. The report states that 200 injured, missing 12 , and 30 dead. A more detailed report will be giving later."

"Screw that! I wanted the recovery of our dead, missing, and wounded prioritized as well as whose planes attacked" he said angrily.

"… they were Chinese Q-5s with J-8 Finbacks as escorts," she said calmly.

He starred, and then looked at the picture of his children in uniform. He didn't want to put his children or anyone else's children in danger, but he had to act. He his people were already dying and knew he had no choice.

"Sakata-san, call a press conference. I will publicly ask for a declaration of war from the Diet."

* * *

Well, I think this story is coming along. I know I haven't mentioned Harima, Hanai, Asou, or the others much, but give me time. Hope ya'll enjoy this story and please review.

Updated January 8, 2008: Shit, I hadn't realized how much my writing has improved over the past few mouths. I'm really sorry for the bad grammar and spelling, but I'm working on fixing it.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. General Peter Pace is the real Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

2. According to Ominae who was kind of enough to tell me this, Article 9 of some treaty states a self-defense force cannot have a marine corps. The unit I mentioned is a fictional creation of my.

3. As Ominae say correctly, Japan doesn't use the H&K MP-5 or the FN P-90, but the MP-5 is used by their special forces. I knew this already, but need a sub-machine gun so I picked the one I thought most likely to be used by Japan. The sub-machine gun has fallen out of military service for the most part since the Vietnam War in both NATO and the Warsaw Pack. The US didn't replace the old M1943 Thomson sub-machine gun until the 1980s when the MP-5 was introduced.

4. I have no idea if Japan uses the M-21. According to Ominae, the Japanese 1st Airborne Brigade does use the M-24.

5. I don't know if Japan uses the AT4. I just picked a likely weapon like I did with the MP-5.

6. This may not be entirely accurate. Mostly this is from playing Brothers in Arms the video game. Activision owns the rights to the names… I think.

7. Incheon is a major port city on the Yellow Sea near the South Korean capitol Seoul and even nearer the DMZ.


	3. Chapter 3: A Call to Arms

Well this is a third chapter. Cool. Well I would like to thank ya'll for still reading my story. I'm gonna try and focus back on Harima, Hanai, Asuo, etc.

Updated January 8, 2008: still editing, last update for today, but more tomorrow. Sorry ya'll.

* * *

**Chapter 3: A Call to Arms**

"We Wand You"

What old US recruiting posters used to say with Uncle Sam pointing at you

**2200 Hours; May 7****th****, 2010; 2****nd**** platoon's barrack, Northern HQ; Sendai, Japan**

Asou, Hanai, Harima, and a 19 year old boy named Kitsumori Kazu were now sitting in a bunkhouse. They were assigned to the fire team of 5th squad; 2nd platoon; Echo Company; 27th Infantry Battalion; 81st Heliborne/Armor Infantry Regiment; 14th Reserved Brigade; 6th Division. Asou… well Corporal Asou was fire team leader; Privates Hanai, Harima, and Kistumori were the team. Asou was cleaning his newly issued Type 89 and making sure Hanai and Harima didn't kill each other.

Kitsumori was fairly powerfully built, clean shaven, brown eyes, and dark blackish-brown hair. He was sitting in his bunk watching Hanai and Harima argue with mild interest.

Right now, Hanai and Harima had gotten into a fight about Tsukamoto-kun. Hanai seemed to think that Harmia was taking advantage of the young girl. Although Asou did notice that Harima and the red eyed underclassman spent a lot of time together, he doubted it was romantic. Something about the way Harima acted around her made him think it was simply friendship, but she seemed to show some interest in him, but that seemed one sided. Hanai, however, was clearly too jealous to contemplate much of anything or rationalize the situation. Harima clearly had no idea why Hanai was mad at him, but Harima didn't like to back down from a fight; even if he doesn't know what it is about. Fortunately, a little over a mouth of training had even taught Harima to obey authority and he now shuts up when ordered. The two of them were now being made to sit on opposite sides of the room.

"Are you two able to behave yourselves?" Corporal Asou asked in his usual calm tone, he couldn't believe he was making two men sit on opposite sides of a room like children; it was defiantly not in his job description when he was offered a position as a corporal.

"Hai," they both mumbled.

"Good."

Hanai and Harima both turned around and looked at each other… well, glared at each other.

'5, 4, 3, 2, 1,' Asou thought dully.

Immediately after Asou though 1, Hanai yelled, "So you lecherous delinquent! You think I will let you take advantage of my dear sweet Yakumo-chan when we go back tomorrow!"

Harima stood up, fists clench, and yelled, "I don't know what you're talking about four-eyes, but I won't take that lying down!"

"Gee, where have I seen this situation?" asked Kistumori sarcastically while cleaning his FN Minimi.

Asou sighed and said in a calm, but forceful voice, "Both of you, back to your corners."

They did as they were told. 'It's easier to deal with them now that I can order them to shut up,' Asou thought. "Why don't you two find something to occupy yourselves with, or go to sleep until we get to go home tomorrow?"

"Corporal Asou, I think it was a mistake to expect them to work together," Kistumori said.

"You may be right, but it wasn't my idea," Asou said. Harima was given an AT4 and Hanai was supposed to carry extra rockets for it and help load the AT4. Asou had hoped that during training they would learn to get along, but they only learned to tolerate each other.

"So," Asou started, "are you from Yagami, Kistumori-kun?"

"Iē (no), but I'm from near by," Kistumori.

"So you're a resident of the Katagawa Prefecture then?"

"Hai, just a little east of Yagami."

"I see."

Asou looked around to make sure Harima and Hanai were behaving themselves. Hanai was reading a military handbook and Harima seemed to be drawing. 'Drawing? Since when did Harima draw?' Asou wondered.

"Harima, what are you doing?" Asou asked curiously.

Harima threw himself over his desk, hiding whatever he was hiding, and screamed, "NOTHING!"

"A delinquent like you I can only imagine what you are doing," Hanai yelled from his side of the room.

"It's nothing! Just something I need Imōto-san to look over," yelled Harima.

"NANI!?! What are you planning to show Yakumo-chan?" Hanai roared.

"Uhhh…. a project we've been working on," Harima said evasively.

"What kind of project?" Asou asked politely, but shrewdly.

"Uh… that's not important," said Harima still trying to hide what he was doing.

"Let's see then," said Kitsumori who had snuck up on Harima and snatched taken a stack of papers.

"A manga?" asked Kitsumori surprised.

"Give that back!" Harima yelled trying to take back the stack of papers, but Kitsumori evaded him.

"Mmmnnn… this is pretty good," said Kitsumori.

"Really? You like it?" asked Harima completely forgetting he was trying to tack back his work. Harima moved next to him as if nothing had happened and started asking questions, "What do you think of this part here?"

"Hee, it's pretty funny."

"Good, I was going for comedy. What about the way the character is drawn here?"

"I think it looks okay, but I'm not an expert."

Hanai strode over, "I refuse to believe that a delinquent can draw a manga." He snatched it out of Kitsumori's hand and started to read.

As Hanai read he went from laughter to tears to anger to a wide variety of emotions while Harima nodded as he observed how he reacted to his manga, Asou couldn't help, but find the scene amusing. Then Hanai seemed to reach the last page and turned it over looking to see if there was more.

"Well?" he asked.

"Well what?" Harima asked.

"How does it end?"

"I'm not sure yet… I have to talk it over it Itōmo-san."

Asou was now reading Harima's manuscript; he would never have thought that Harima could write a romantic-comedy, not to mention a good one too. Asou then remember a time when a saw Harima and Tsukamoto-kun together. When he'd approached them Harima hid something behind his back very quickly. Asou was starting to put two and two together.

"Harima, is this what you're really doing with Tsukamoto-kun?" He asked.

Harima stared at him for a while and then said, "Hai, she is my manga assistant."

"Mmmnn… I guess that would explain a lot," Asou turned to Hanai and said to him hopefully, "I guess you don't have a reason to hate Harima now, do you?"

Hanai folded his arms and turned his head to the side, "Okay, I don't hate him, but I still don't like him. How do we know he isn't lusting for Yakumo-chan?"

"Who are these people?" asked Kitsumori annoyed since he had never met any of the Tsukamoto Sisters or their classmates.

Asou sighed and said to him, "It's a long story. You'll meet them tomorrow."

"Okay… but I'm starting to worry a little. You guys make 'em sound like psychos."

Asou sighed even louder, "You're not that far off unfortunately, but they're good people."

Harima and Hanai were back to yelling at each other, but it seemed like it was not spiraling out of control like before.

"I think it's time for lights out," Asou ordered.

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**0700 Hours; May 8****th****, 2010; Sendai JR Terminal; Sendai, Japan**

Asou, Hanai, Harima, and Kitsumori were lining up at the ticket counter for tickets. Since Japan wasn't at war they didn't have to stay on a base. They were wearing B Class semi-formal uniforms, they had packs on with some basic gear, but since they weren't full time soldiers they weren't allowed to take their weapons that they didn't own. Since they didn't own any weapons, they didn't have any weapons; aside from a few knifes which they had to hide since it wasn't allow to carry weapons in public places like train stations.

They bought their tickets and went to platform 8 of the Sendai JR Terminal.

A voice over the PA system announced, "Attention all JR East passengers Yamabiko Express to Tokyo is now arriving on platform 8."

The four of them sat together on the train. After a few hours they arrived the main JR Terminal in Tokyo and switched to a Keihin-Tōhoku Line to Yokohama. Then they switched to local train that would take them deeper into the Kanagawa Prefecture that to the Sagami River and ran through the cities of Yagami, Karakura, and ended at the city of Uenohara just across the border in the Yamanashi Prefecture (1).

"So what are we doing?" Kitsumori asked.

"When we get to the station we're going to meet the rest of our friends at a restaurant I work at," Asou stated. "What about you?"

Kitsumori sat for a while, "Uh… I don't think I can go home now. Can I hang out with you guys?"

"Sure, if you need a place to sleep you can stay with me," Harima volunteered.

Kitsumori smiled, "Thanks Harima. You're a surprisingly good pal."

"Well wait tell you meet Itoko, but if we're friends you might as well call me Kenji."

"Whatever. Call me Kazu."

"Oi, four-eyes can we call you by your given name?" asked Harima.

"No you may not!" Hanai yelled.

"Well excuse me for being nice!" Harima yelled back.

"Privates, people are staring at us. Sit down now," Asou ordered placing one hand over his face in embarrassment. Grudgingly, Hanai and Harima sat down and slowly the other people on the train went back to their business.

Hanai looked out the window and said slowly, "I would prefer if you stop calling me four-eyes. If you do, I'll stop calling you a delinquent."

"Alright, you have a deal, but… what was your name?" Harima asked. Everyone slapped there foreheads simultaneously, Harima merely gave an embarrassed semi-smile.

They arrived in Yagami Station. They grabbed their packs off a luggage rack above their seats and got off the train.

"So this is Yagami? Nice place," said looking out onto the town square from the platform.

"Hanai-kun, Harima-kun, Asou-kun, over here!" yelled a voice behind them. Sagano-san and Yūki-san were waving at them from down the platform. They were both wearing blue and white Maritime Forces uniforms.

"How have you two been?" asked Asou.

"Good," said Sagano-san and Yūki-san together.

"So what do you do for the Maritime Forces?" asked Hanai.

"I fly an AH-1S Cobra off the Shimokita," said Sagano-san.

"I'm a missile technician on the Shirane (3) and basically target and fire Harpoon cruise missiles at people," Yūki-san said. "How about you?"

"I'm a fire team leader in an infantry squad," said Asou showing the corporal insignia on his olive drab Ground Self-Defense Forces uniform.

"I'm a rifleman and a carry extra AT rockets for our squad," said Hanai.

"I'm a rifleman and I carry an AT4 for the squad," said Harima.

"And you?" Yūki-san asked Kitsumori how had been standing to the side.

"Uh… I'm a light machine gunner… and I'm Private Kitsumori Kazu. Nice to meet you," he said politely.

"I'm Sagano Megumi," Sagano said, "I'm athletic and fun lovin'. This is my best friend Yūki Tsumugi, she's shy, smart, and single if you're interested."

Yūki turned red and hit Sagano over the head with the satchel suitcase she was carrying. Kitsumori said to Sagano while she was down ground, "Uh… thanks I'll keep that in mind, but I'm interested in seeing anybody right now."

They left the station together and headed downtown. Hanai ask Sagano, "Do you know what the others that weren't draft have been up to?"

Sagano started to think, "Let's see… um Eri-chan still lives in the area and now attends Tokyo University."

"Figures an overachiever like Ojō-san would go to a place like that," said Harima with a note of contempt in his voice, that Sawachika-san could attend the best college in Japan and he, Harima, had no prospects for a future in continuing his education because of his grades.

"Nishimoto-kun is now running his families video store and last I hear the perv is trying to put money together to start a porn studio," continued Sagano sounding disgusted. "Itoko-sensei and Sasukura-sensei are teaching at Yagami High School."

"What about Tani-sensei?" asked Hanai.

"He was a former volunteer member for the Ground Forces and apparently reenlisted," said Yūki. "Last I heard, he was up in Hokkaido helping train soldiers."

This left Hanai, Harima, and Asou in shock, but Sagano kept going in spite of their shock state, "Mackenzie-kun and Lala-chan are both still in the area and attend a local college. Tennōji got kick out of the marines and is somewhere. I heard the cops are looking for him. Sara-chan and Yakumo-chan are still at school… well they only 17. Oh and Tenma-chan is attending a local college that specializes in Japanese History."

"Are we all still meeting up today?" asked Asou.

"I think so, you guys wanna wait there?" asked Yūki.

"Hai," they said together, they were very tired from the long train ride.

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**2100 Hours; May 8****th****, 2010; a local Chinese restaurant; Yagami, Japan**

That evening they all gathered in the restaurant. They were all talking about there training and their units and the war. Suo and Ichijo were show everyone pictures of their marine platoon. Yoshidayama was bragging about his the home guard battalion he was in, even though he hadn't done anything yet. Nara was showing a picture of the F-15J he was assigned to fly for 2nd Air Wing. Harima was talking to Yakumo in a corner about their manga. Hanai glared jealously at them. Tani-sensei joined them in his uniform, according to him he had gone into volunteer several years ago to pay for his college education. He was also in the 6th Division like Harima, Hanai, Asou, and Kistumori, but he was in the 80th volunteer mechanized infantry regiment. Kitsumori was slowly getting to know everyone in the room. Asou couldn't help, but notice that Yūki-san seemed to have taken an interest in him, but than again she'd taken interest in almost any guy who would spend time with her. Asou felt sorry for her, almost always alone. Ōtsuka-san had brought her second in command from her platoon in the 10th Division and was watching the news and discussing the war.

"Hey!" Ōtsuka-san yelled, pointing at the TV over the bar. Everyone turned around to see there Prime Minister appear on screen.

Prime Minister Aokami cleared his throat and spoke, "Ladies and gentlemen of the Federation of Japan. It is my unfortunate duty to inform you that earlier today ships of the 2nd Escort Fleet were attacked. 258 sailors were injured, 41 were killed, and 3 are still missing. We have identified the attackers as fighter-bombers of the People's Republic of China. In addition Chinese planes attacked French and British soldiers north of Seoul and tanks of the People's Liberation Army are now moving south across the Yalu River. As much as I hate to put my children and the children of others, this unprovoked attack cannot go unchallenged. I asked for an apology from the Chinese Premier Lao Zhang and they gave me a declaration of war instead. I have reports of Chinese Jiangwei class frigates and Luda II class destroyers violating our waters. It is clear that as NATO and South Korean resistance collapses, the Communists turn their attention more on us. I have been told by my military advisors and NATO generals that it is only a matter of time now. With the Communists practically holding a gun to all our heads I must ask the Diet for a declaration of war on the People's Democratic Republic of Korea and the People's Republic of China.

May fortune smile upon our nation and save us from the worse."

The loudest silence anyone had ever experienced filled the room. Even though many had expected war, it was still a nasty shock to everyone. Everyone tried to go back to what they were doing before. It just didn't seem real, they were being asked to go and die?

"Harima-sempai?" Harima turned to face a worried looking Yakumo.

"Hai?"

"Are you going to war?"

"I guess so."

She looked a little pale and as though she was trying to say something, "Harima-sempai… I want to say… I want to say… that… I lo… lov"

After a few minutes of her not being able to finish a sentence, Harima decided to say something first, "Listen Imōto-san I just want to say that you're the best friend I've ever had… well you're the only friend I've ever had, but you're a good friend."

She stared at him and thought, 'I guess I'll only ever be his friend. I wish he could see that I love him, but at least I'm special to him.'

"Arigato (thanks)… Kenji-san. Write to me and send me your manuscripts from wherever you are, onigai."

"Sure thing Yakumo-san." She smiled at the fact he'd used her given name for the first time.

"YAKUMO-CHAN!" yelled Hanai as he ran to her from across the room.

She hid behind Harima and peered out from behind his shoulders. "Ano… can I help you Hanai-sempai?"

Hanai puffed himself up and declared, "I want you to know that no matter what I will come back from even the depths of hell to get back to you."

"Uhh… arigato?" Yakumo said unsurely. 'I wish he wouldn't try so hard. It's so overwhelming and frightening,' Yakumo thought.

"Don't worry Yakumo-chan, I will return to you," he yelled.

'At least he means well,' Yakumo thought, always trying to think the best of people as usual.

"Yakumo-san, have you seen your sister?" asked Harima.

"Hai, she is with her boyfriend Karasuma."

"Oh I see… WHAT!?!" Harima screamed dumbfounded.

"She is with her boyfriend Karasuma," Yakumo repeated calmly, not sure why he was freaking out.

"Wh… when did she…?" Harima practically whimpered these last few disjointed words.

Harima went into a slump. He didn't know what to do anymore. He didn't have his Tenma-chan anymore and now he's going to war. How was this happening to him? He had nothing now.

Yakumo watched him patiently. She couldn't help, but think that maybe with her sister out of the way Harima may come to love her instead, though the thought did make her feel guilty.

"Uh… hello?" said Hanai who was now being completely ignored.

"Uh… Kenji-san… are you going to be okay?" Yakumo asked gently placing a small pale hand on Harima's shoulder.

"I don't know," he answered, completely depressed.

"Hey, I'm still here," she said reassuringly.

"And so I'm I!" yelled Hanai, angry at being ignored.

Harima stared at them, his tears came from his eyes, and he pulled Yakumo and Hanai into a bone crushing hug and declared, "YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!"

"… uh arigato Kenji-san," Yakumo said, happy being held, but in pain at being held so tightly.

"HEY! WHAT HELL ARE YOU DOING!" yelled Hanai, not really sure what Harima was doing.

* * *

Well the war is starting. Please review.

Update January 8, 2008: This chapter needed a number of corrections and I added a few things to make it better.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. The train line I have no idea if it is real. Yagami and Karakura are not real cities in Japan or at least I think they're not. The Sagami River is a real river in the Kanagawa Prefecture.

2. The Shimokita is of the Osumi class is listed as an amphibious force ship, but sort of like a one of our Wasp class ships. Closes thing Japan has to an aircraft carrier today.

3. The Shirane is of the Shinrane Class Destroyer. The real thing isn't armed with cruise missile, but this is my story. The Shinrane has helicopter pads and is in real life meant to provide chopper support for the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces.


	4. Chapter 4: Welcome to Korea

I don't feel like typing a lot of author notes. I'm not feeling well today, but I'm still gonna' try and write ya'll a chapter.

Updated January 9, 2008: Okay, I'm making good progress in editing. I may be done sooner than I thought, but I still have over ten chapters to edit.

* * *

**Chapter 4: Welcome to Korea**

"I was too young for Korea

And too old for Vietnam"

Stephen E. Ambrose, author of D-Day and Band of Brothers

**0700 Hours; May 12****th****, 2010; Itoko's Apartment; Yagami; Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan**

Harima was checking his pack: underwear, socks, spare pair pants, change of shirts, rope, water, a simple tool kit, and a tiny med kit. There was a knock on the door.

"Itoko?" said Harima.

A rubber bullet hit him in the head knocking him off his feet, "Its Itoko-san."

While on the ground in pain Harima gave groans that sounded like apologies.

"Kenji-kun… I want you to take this," Itoko said handing him a gun in a brown leather holster.

"A gun? But isn't the military going to give me one?" Harima asked.

"Usually only officers and NCOs are issued a sidearm. Enlisted soldiers usually have to buy their own and I doubt you can afford a decent gun. So take this," Itoko said this with a slight note of concern in her voice.

"Really… I don't know what to say… arigato Itoko-san," Harima said aware that this was about as close to concern and carrying as his cousin ever shows. "So what model is it?"

"It's an old Colt M1911A1 Semi-Automatic. Fires eight .45s and pretty decent firepower and accuracy. It's a good gun."

Harima looked it over and admired the Colt 45; Itoko had clearly taken good care of this gun. Harima wondered why his usual cruel and selfish cousin would give him something she clearly prized so much.

"Arigato, Itoko-san, take care."

"You too Kenji-kun."

Harima left his room and went to the front hall where Kitsumori was waiting. Kitsumori had been staying with Harima and Itoko for the past three days while they waited for their orders, not for free of course. Kitsumori had to pay rent like Harima.

"Hey Kenji-kun," Harima turned to face his cousin again, "from what I heard only the 6th Division is getting sent to Korea and only the 6th. The rest of the military are bracing Japan for invasion along with the NATO reinforcements. So the rest of your friends won't be in danger, for now."

"Arigato."

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**1700 Hours; May 12****th****, 2010; Northeast Command HQ; Sendai; Miyagi Prefecture, Japan**

Harima, Hanai, Kitsumori, and Asou were walking into one of the bases the made up the Northeast Command HQ in Sendai. Hanai, Asou, and Harima grabbed their Type 89s out of their lockers, Kitsumori picked up his FN Minimi. Hanai and Harima picked up tubes with 84mm rockets and Harima grabbed the AT4. Asou grabbed the Beretta M9 he had bought with his own many a look over to make sure it was clean.

They then joined 2nd platoon. 2nd Lt. Takan was standing in front of his platoon. He was a fairly tall man in his early twenties with dark brown hair. He started to speak, "Everyone, I just got our final orders from HQ. Seoul has fallen to PLA and KPA divisions. What remains of the AROK (Army of the Republic of Korea) and NATO is gathering at Busan (Pusan), a port on the southern coast of Korea…" he continued to inform his soldiers on the goings on in Korea.

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**1745 Hours; May 12****th****, 2010; US Western Pacific Command HQ; Yokohama, Japan**

Meanwhile in a US base between Tokyo and Yokohama, General Michael O'Grady was sitting behind his desk counting aspirin. 'At this rate I'm going to get a migraine,' he thought. It had not been a good week. China and Japan were now in the war. Seoul had fallen and NATO trying to decide if they would send more soldiers or if other NATO members would join the war. 'Maybe Belgium or Italy would help, I love to see anyone join our side,' he thought to himself.

"General?" said a voice with a German accent. The commander of the German Expeditionary Force, Lt. General Gerd Heinkel, was at his door. Other NATO commanders fallowed. Heinkel sat down in a chair in front of General O'Grady and raised his hand.

"May I help you Heinkel?"

"I am here to inform you that the 11th Fallschirmjäger Regiment is ready to go to Korea."

"Good. Thank you."

"What are they to do when there?"

"I need them to set up a perimeter around the city and make sure the Chinese and North Koreans don't attack the port while our Navy and the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces withdraw the ground troops."

"I understand… will anyone else be joining us?"

"Yes, the Japanese are sending one of their divisions."

A French Colonel raised his hand and asked, "What is the overall plan?"

"The German 11th Fallschirmjäger Regiment and the Japanese 6th Division will be transported from bases in Kyushu by choppers. The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces and our Navy will be transporting our troops out of Busan Harbor. The US will provide the main navel cover including the USS George Washington (carrier), USS Harry S. Truman (carrier), the USS Missouri (battleship), USS California (battleship), and USS Port Royal (cruiser).

The USS New Jersey (battleship), USS Antietam (cruiser), and USS Mobile Bay (cruiser) will provide the defending troops with navel fire. The Enterprise will provide the defenders with air support and additional support will come from air bases in Kyushu. The Japanese 3rd Escort Fleet will give additional support. If all goes well, we'll be able to complete the withdrawal in a week."

"A week!" several commanders yelled.

"The AROK is the second largest military in the world," reasoned O'Grady.

"You want us to hold off the PKA and PLA with paratroopers and mech-infantry? The Chinese have rather vicious tanks at their disposal like the Type 96 and the Type 99," pointed at an outraged Turkish officer.

"The Japanese will send there own tanks like the Type 90. There will also be a shit load of air and navel support."

A US marine officer asked resigned to the worst, "What comes next?"

"We'll dig in and wait for the invasion of Japan."

"How will that be any better than Korea?" asked an incredulous British officer.

"North Korea and China lack the big powerful navies that we have, so I think we've got a better chance of winning in Japan," stated O'Grady while rubbing his forehead.

"Hopefully we'll blow them out of the water before they reach Japanese shores," US Admiral Drake said.

"Yeah, hopefully," said General O'Grady.

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**0700 Hours; May 17****th****, 2010; Japanese Air Self-Defense Forces Base; Kyushu, Japan**

A bunch of CH-47J Chinooks and UH-1J Hueys were being prepped for take off and airlift the 27th Infantry Battalion; additional battalions were going to be airlifted from near by bases. Lt. Takan was talking to Staff Sergeant Meada; Hanai's, Harima's, Kitsumori's, and Asou's squad leader. "Since your team has the engineers, I need to place demo charges on the bridge we're defending, just in case we're overrun and have to retreat command wants us to blow the Nakdong Bridge." Their orders were to defend a bridge and make sure it doesn't fall in communist hands.

"I understand sir," said SSgt Meada.

Harima was writing a letter to send back home, 'Dear Yakumo-san, I'm off to my first battle today. I going to… uh… er… well actually I don't remember, but it should be find. I remember what to do at least… or do I? I'm sure the others do at least. Be well and tell your sister I said hi and don't worry we'll beat those North Carolinians. From Kenji.'

He mailed it and joined the rest of the platoon who were marching into a CH-47J. It would take them across the Korean Strait and into a suburb in the western part of Busan near the city airport, Gimhae International. The Chinook started to take off. Harima stared out the rear ramp where the rear gunner stood mounting a mini gun. The Chinook sped along with about 80 other Chinooks, Hueys, Little Birds, Cobras, and a few Black Hawks the Japanese had acquired from the US Army. Below they could see 3 aircraft carriers, 3 battleships, 7 cruisers, and a couple dozen destroyers and frigates. Above them were numerous fighters, a few gunships, fighter-bombers, and electronic warfare planes.

They admired the blue sea from the chopper. Asou stood up from the bench he was on and walked to the rear of the Chinook. He stood next to the rear gunner while hanging onto a cable for support. He could still see Kyushu in the distance. 'I wonder when I'll get to see Japan again?' wondered Asou, never stopping to think that be a matter of 'if' not 'when'.

Kitsumori moved up to the front of the Chinook with pilots. Up ahead he could see Korea. It came closer and the choppers started to break up into smaller groups. They went north over the city and then turned west. Kitsumori had never seen Busan, or any part of another country, and he was impressed by the size of the city. He saw millions of soldiers gathered by the port waiting to be evacuated from the country. They were now going to the Gimhae International Airport on the west end of the city across the Nakdonggang River from the area they were currently over. Once there, 2nd platoon was to go to the Nakdong Bridge that spans the Nakdonggang and place charges on it. If the Airport falls, they were to blow the bridge up while the rest of the battalion gathers on the east side of the river.

"Gimhae is dead ahead. Being our descent, over" said the pilot.

Kitsumori looked out the cockpit and saw some usual vehicles on the runway. "Hey, on the runway, are those military vehicles?" asked Kitsumori pointing.

"Huh? … OH SHIT! ZSU-57-2s on the runway! Scatter!" the pilot yelled into the radio. He pulled up and other choppers scattered to get out of the line of fire as 57mm fire filled the sky. There was a bang, sound of screeching metal, and the co-pilot was killed; a huge hole in his chest where a 57mm hit him and blown out his heart. "Hold on!" yelled the pilot looking towards everyone in the chopper. He didn't see a Huey spinning out of control into his path.

Kitsumori pointed at the Huey, his face white as a sheep. The pilot looked around just in time to see the tail of the Huey smash into the Chinook. There was an explosion of glass and metal. The nose of the Chinook was knocked towards the sky and everyone was clinging to the benches to keep from falling out of the rear of the chopper, several people fell to their dooms. The Chinook was spinning and twisting in the air as the pilot desperately tried to bring the chopper under control.

Harima clung onto a bench until the Chinook leveled out. Then it spun. Then a crash and then nothing.

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**???? Hours; May? 2010?; Location Unknown**

"Kenji-san?" said a gentle voice.

"Yakumo-san?" said Harima in disbelief, "What are you doing in Korea?"

"I'm not in Korea, you're unconscious and I'm just a dream," she said simple matter-of-fact tone.

"Oh, I see," said Harima not really understanding.

"Are you okay?"

"Probably not," Harima said remembering the crash. "Even if I live, what's the point? My life sucks."

"What about the manga?" Dream Yakumo asked.

"You're a perfectly good artist, I'm sure you'll be able to do it yourself."

"… please come back," she pleaded.

"Why?" Harima asked confused as to why she cared.

"Just come back," she asked, it sounded so important to her. "You promised the real me that you'd be safe."

"Well, if it means that much to you, I'll come back as soon as I can," he said, still not sure why.

"Arigato."

The dream Yakumo was getting blurry. A man's voice was saying in the distance, "Harima? Are you still alive?"

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**1100 Hours; May 17****th****, 2010; Crash Site; Busan, Republic of Korea**

Harima opened his eyes to see the blurry image of three men leaning over him. One of the lenses of his sunglasses was missing. He removed them and sat up. Looking around he saw the horrifying image of corpses. Mangled bodies were everywhere with limbs sticking in odd directions or missing completely. Suddenly he felt sick. He looked up to see Hanai, Kitsumori, and Asou. Hanai's nose looked broken, Kitsumori was bleeding from a small cut on his head, Asou had a cut across his check, and they all had the same look of shock and uncertainty at what was happening.

"Are you okay Kenji?" asked Kitsumori.

"I think so, Kazu. Where are we?"

"I don't know," said Kitsumori. "I know were on the west side of the Nakdoggang River and somewhere between the river and the airport."

"I guess we should look for survivors," said Harima.

"Ie," said Hanai, "we should stay put."

"We need to looked for survivors!" yelled Harima.

"We need to stay put until a search party finds us!" yelled Hanai.

"Both of you shut up!" yelled Asou. "I'm in charge here. We were given orders to prepare the Nakdong Bridge for demolition. So see if the engineers are still alive."

No one had ever seen Asou get angry like that. They immediately check the Chinook. The only survivors were: their squad's two engineers Private 1st Class Shimazu Saito and Private Rumune Riku, theirb squad's radioman Private 1st Class Kaojin Taro, and one of the Chinook's gunners Private Yamako Ichiro.

Shimazu was a big 19 year old man with bluish-black hair, a small mustache, and a little scar on his arms from basic training. Rumune was a thin 18 year old man with light brown hair and a ring earring in his left ear. Kaoji was a small 18 year old with glasses who looked 16, had orange-red hair in a small, short ponytail. Yamako was 23 year old man, with neatly trimmed black hair and a tattoo on his right arm in Kanji that read 'aku soku zan' (slay evil immediately).

"Okay everyone, as a corporal and the… the highest rank person still alive in this chopper, I will be taking charge here. First, everyone gather whatever will be useful like ammo and satchel charges. Second, someone make a list of the dead here, I don't want to leave a family not knowing what became of their sons or daughters. Third, once we're ready we're going to the Nakdong Bridge and get prep it for destruction as we were ordered to. Alright?" said Asou, taking charge.

"Hai," everyone responded. The started work, Harima and Hanai made a list of the dead, Shimazu, Remune, and Asou gather supplies and ammo, and Kitsumori and Yamako kept watch.

"Okay, I think we have everything," Asou said, "You guys ready to go?"

"Hai."

"Okay, let's get out of here."

They crept out of the remains of the Chinook and into a street with medium size office buildings surrounding them. Asou checked a map and looked up at the street signs.

"Can anyone read Korean?" he asked. The Chusan (Korean) was a completely different writing system than the one the Chinese used or the Japanese.

"I can read some sir. Uh… we're right here sir," said Rumune pointing to a spot on the map.

"Right… then were about 5km southwest of our objective. Let's get going," said Asou pointing to the northeast where the bridge should hopefully be. They walked in a line with Asou and Kaoji in front, Hanai, Harima, Rumune, and Shimazu in the middle, and Kitsumori and Yamako in the rear.

All around them they could hear the sounds of distant shooting, but the area immediately around them was quiet. If there were any people still in this part of Busan they must be hiding because the only living thing the saw after traveling about 1km was a stray dog wondering the streets.

"Where is everyone?" asked Shimazu in a whisper.

"Maybe they at the airport," suggested Kaoji.

"Couldn't you find out with that radio?" Yamako.

"Hai, I think it still works," said Kaoji checking his radio.

"Okay… uh let's go into the convenience store. I'll go first with Hanai and Harima. Kitsumori and Yamako keep watch once were in," said Asou.

They slowly entered the store. It looked like any normal convenience store accept that no one was inside, not even a clerk. The fact that no other living person seemed to be around was starting to make them edgy. Kaoji fiddled with the radio and repositioned the head set that came with the radio.

"This is Echo 5-3, any friendlies out there?" Kaoji spoke.

After a few seconds, someone responded, "This is Dogwood 1-3, go ahead Echo 5-3."

"Dogwood, where is everyone? We were separated from the rest of the battalion."

"We're about .5km out from Gimhae International Airport. We're engaged with North Korean infantry and APCs. What's your position?"

"Our chopper was shot down and we lost most of our platoon. We haven't seen anyone else yet. We're about 4km from Nakdong Bridge. We're going to prep it for demolition," said Kaoji.

The was a pause and then a new voice spoke, "This is Dogwood leader. Who's in charge there?"

"Echo 5-5, sir."

"May I speak with him?"

"One moment," said Kaoji as he passed the corded transmitter to Asou.

"This is Echo 5-5," Asou said.

"Echo 5-5, I need you guys to hurry to Nakdong Bridge. If we fail to take Gimhae and have to retreat, then you'll have to blow the bridge. Hurry. Over."

"Roger that sir. Over and out," Asou said and then passed the transmitter back to Kaoji.

"Okay boys, we need to hurry," Asou announced.

"Sir," Kitsumori said in a loud whisper.

"Nani?" asked Asou.

"There are North Koreans outside."

"Nani?" Asou asked in a whisper, worried about being heard by the North Koreans. He looked and saw four armed soldiers standing next to a UAZ (1). An idea formed in Asou's head, "We're gonna kill them and take that UAZ."

"Eh?" Hanai asked in a quiet voice.

"You heard me."

"Well… I guess it would be faster if we had a ride," Hanai said.

"Good. Pick a target, which to semi-auto, aim carefully, and wait for my order. Try not to hit the UAZ."

They all took arms at the unsuspecting North Korean solders. Asou looked down the sights of his Type 89 assault rifle at a soldier who was shining flashlight into a door of a store across the street, probably searching for Japanese soldiers or resistance fighters.

"Now," Asou said in a loud whisper as he fired a signal shot off, he hit the soldier in the head. Asou felt the bottom of his stomach drop as he saw the bullet punch clean through the head of the soldier and splattered blood on the wall of the store across the street. The other three soldiers look up in surprised, but they were killed just as quickly. Kitsumori looked up and down the street to make sure that there weren't more soldiers. Once he signaled it was clear they ran across the street.

Asou looked at the man he shot. He looked younger than Asou and his eyes held a look of surprise as if he wasn't sure what had happen. He wouldn,'t have been bad looking if it weren't for the trickle of blood coming from the hole in his head. Asou wondered who this kid was and why he was here. Slowly, Asou bent down and closed the kid's eyes, why he didn't know though, but it felt like something that needed to be done.

Hanai was inspecting the UAZ. He knew it wasn't very big and wondered if it would be big enough for all eight of them. "Will we all fit?" he asked.

Harima inspected the UAZ too, "Mmmnn… if one person drives and two people sit in the passenger seat and three people sit in back and someone sits in the gunner's hatch, and we open the trunk and someone sits there, I think we could all fit."

"Mmnnn… that sounds like a good idea," Hanai sound, slightly impressed by Harima's ingenuity.

"Okay, let's try that. Who can drive?" asked Asou.

"I sure Harima can since he drives that motorcycle around all the time," said Hanai.

"It's a little different from my bike, but I can drive it," Harima answered. He got in and started the engine. They all climbed on.

"Drive carefully Harima, I don't want anyone to get hurt," Asou ordered.

"Don't worry sir. I plan on getting us all there alive. Someone needs me to come back, even if I don't know why," Harima said. Asou knowing Harima to be a man of his word knew that he had nothing to worry about for now.

* * *

Image the scenario if you can. An urban area, sounds of distant fighting, but no one around. Kinda creepy. Lonely even. But that's the idea. Busan is a real port city in South Korea. Some of you make know it as Pusan where in 1950 the U.S. was surrounded by the North Koreans. The Nakdong is a real bridge that spans the Nakdonggang River in Busan near Gimhae International Airport. I can't find a picture of it, but I think it's a normal concrete highway bridge. Stay tuned for more and review please.

Updated January 8, 2008: This will be the last edit for a few hours. When I get home from school I do the next chapter.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. The UAZ is the jeep used by the Soviets and still used by the Russian Federation. Many other countries use the UAZ. It is a rough equivalent to the US's HUMMWV.


	5. Chapter 5: A Bridge Over the Nakdonggang

Hey guys, thanks for still reading my story. I don't own School Rumble and the plot opf my story was inspired by Conflict, Band of Brothers, Brothers in Arms, Men of Valor, Red Alert 2, and some other games and movies.

Updated January 9, 2008: Still updating. It could take a little while longer to get this done.

* * *

**Chapter 5: A Bridge Over the River Nakdonggang**

"I think we are all agreed that we went a bridge too far"

A British General, in reference to the disaster known as Operation: Market-Garden

**1300 Hours; May 17****th****, 2010; 650m away from the Nakdong Bridge; Busan, South Korea**

They sped down the street. Harima did his best not to make sudden turns in the overcrowded UAZ (1).

"Stop the car," Asou ordered. He handed the map to Rumune and asked, "Where are we?"

Rumune checked the street sign and then the map, "We're very close… maybe 600m out. If we turn right we'll be on a road that runs along the Nakdonggang River."

"It might be a better idea to come from underneath the bridge instead of driving onto it," said Kitsumori.

"Yeah, and Rumune and I need to plant the charge under there anyways," said Shimazu.

"Okay, Harima turn right and take us under the Nakdong Bridge," ordered Asou.

"Hai," Harima said turning right. In a few minutes they were by the river. The Nakdonggang River was the longest river in Republic of Korea. Harima turned left and they saw a huge concrete highway bridge. The sped along to the bridge and soon they were underneath it.

"Can you see a way up?" asked Asou.

"I do sir," said Hanai pointing to a ladder that lead to a catwalk suspended from the bridge.

"Harima, you and Hanai go first. Shimazu and Rumune go second. We'll cover you," ordered Asou.

Harima secured the AT4 and his Type 89. He then pulled out the Cold 45 Itoko gave him and started to climb the ladder. Hanai pulled out a Chinese made Type-54 (2) he'd found in the clove compartment of the UAZ and followed Harima. Shimazu secured his M4A1 carbine and Remington 870, and then he drew a Smith & Wesson K-38 double action revolver. Rumune secured his MP-5 and Remington 870, and drew out a standard issue Sig P-226. The four of them climbed up while the others watched for enemies.

Harima reach the top of the ladder and looked around several meters to the ground; he could tell the fall would definitely kill him. Seeing nobody he holstered his Colt .45 and drew out his Type 89. He signaled that it was safe and Hanai climbed onto the catwalk. He too holstered his gun, pulled out his rifle, and faced the opposite direction scanning for PKA soldiers. Shimazu chose to keep his S&M revolver out and Rumune drew out his Remington 870. Hanai pointed a flash light down the ladder and flashed a signal to follow to the others on the ground.

Once Asou, Kitsumori, Yamako, and Kaoji joined the rest of the shattered remains of 5th squad, Remune and Shimazu went over to one of the bridges legs and planted satchel charges where the steel I-beams and other metal joints met holding the bridge up. They placed more charges so that if they had to blow up the bridge the charges would sever vital joints and the bridge would collapse under its own weight.

"Charges are set Corporal Asou," said Shimazu.

"Okay, let's go to the surface and see if anyone is there, but let's keep the noise down," said Asou, he didn't know where the enemy or their allies were and being reckless seemed very stupid.

Hanai and Kitsumori slowly moved to a set of stairs that would normally allow city workers to access the catwalk to the surface of the bridge. Asou followed with Kaoji and Remune. Shimazu and Harima covered their rear. Hanai once on the surface he saw a concrete barrier separating the sidewalk from the highway. He peeked over the barrier and saw a Soviet built ZSU-57-2 (3) and a group of North Korean soldiers.

"Corporal Asou, there is a mobile AA with a crew of 6 plus maybe a dozen soldiers," said Hanai in a whisper to Asou.

Asou looked over the barrier too. The ZSU-57-2 was on the other side of bridge with a concrete median that separated the two different directions, similar to the one they were hiding behind. A couple of the North Koreans were sitting on the median with their backs to Asou. He spotted an RPG-7 next to one of the North Korean's sitting on the median.

"Okay," Asou said, "They have an RPG-7 and a ZSU-57-2. It think I saw one man with an RPK (4), and maybe between 18-20 soldiers total, including the AA crew. They're on the other side of the highway with median separating us. So both us and them have good cover. Harima you move to my right and when I give the signal use the AT4 on the mobile AA. Kitsumori, take your LMG (light machine gun) and set up down there on my right, you lay down cover fire after the AA is gone. The rest of you spread out, but keep your heads down, until I give the order to fire."

They all spread out. Harima leaned his rifle against the barrier and pulled out his AT4. Hanai leaned his rifle next to Harima's and pulled out a tube with rocket inside to quickly reload the AT4 after Harima fired the first shot.

Asou rapidly waved his right hand towards the mobile AA as a signal for them to shoot it and then gave Harima the thumbs up. Harima stood up, took careful aim, and fired. The rocket hit the ZSU-57-2 in its track, but didn't destroy it. The North Koreans quickly grabbed their weapons and started to return fire. Kitsumori started to fire off long bursts of automatic fire from his FN Minimi. Asou and Kaoji fired their rifles, Shimazu fired his carbine, and Rumune fired his SMG. The ZSU-57-2 started to aim its twin 57mm barrels at them.

"Hurry! Reload!" Harima yelled while Hanai did his best to load a second rocket while his hands shook from panic and stress. "It's loaded! Go!" Hanai yelled patting him on the helmet and stepping back. Harima stood up, took aim at the rear of the AA vehicle, and fired at what he hoped was the fuel tank. Harima's rocket hit dead on and the ZSU-57-2 exploded killing its crew and a couple of unfortunate North Koreans from flying metal shards. Hanai and Harima grabbed their rifles and started to fire off 3-round bursts.

Soon both sides were shooting at each from behind the concrete barriers. However, the balance was tipped in favor of the North Koreans when a BTR-80A APC with a PT-76 light/amphibious tank in support came in from the west side of the bridge.

"Holy shit! Enemy amour," screamed Rumune.

"Kaoji, call in air support!" yelled Asou.

"On it sir!" Kaoji yelled back while fumbling with the radio. "This is Echo 5-3; we are under attack by enemy armor! Request air support! Over!"

"… sorry what did you say," asked a voice in English.

"Uh… this is Echo 5-3, request air support on Nakdong Bridge," Kaoji repeated in English.

"Roger that 5-3, this is Serpent 2-1. ETA 120 seconds," said a voice.

"Sir! I've got air support from the US coming in about 2 minutes," Kaoji yelled over the sound of the shooting. He pulled out a red smoke grenade and scanned the skies.

"What's that for?" asked Harima.

"When the air support comes, I need to mark the enemy for them," Kaoji answered. "They may shoot us instead if they can't ID us."

"Oh, okay," Harima said as he loaded a new clip into his gun.

The situation was getting bad for Asou, Harima, Hanai, Kaoji, Shimazu, Rumune, Kitsumori, and Yamako since the BTR-80A, the PT-76, and a platoon of infantry joined the first North Korean squad. The PT-76 aimed its 76.2mm gun and fired a shot at them, but missed badly; the shot went high over their heads. Kitsumori and Shimazu barely ducked in time to avoid the BTR-80A's 30mm auto-cannon and 7.62mm MG.

Suddenly, the sounds of helicopter rotors were heard coming from the south. Kaoji looked around and saw two USMC (United States Marine Corp) AH-1Z Super Cobras heading towards them. Kaoji stood up and threw the red smoke grenade, but in the process was hit, knocked off his feet, and hit his head against the guard rail behind him.

The Super Cobras upon seeing the red smoke opened fire at the North Koreans. The BTR-80A started to fire at one of the Cobras, but was blown to pieces by a TOW missile from one of the Super Cobras. The PT-76 followed the same fate with a second TOW missile. The infantry scattered for cover as 20mm gatling gun and Hydra 70mm free-flight rockets rained down on them.

Soon there was no more movement from the other side of the highway. After a minute the Super Cobras pulled out to head off to another area of Busan. Hanai went over to Kaoji.

"Is he okay?" asked Yamako who was breathing hard from all the fighting.

"I think he's only unconscious," said Hanai. He unbuttoned Kaoji's jacket and cheched his Kevlar vest. There was a bullet that had flattened on impacted, but didn't go through his vest.

"The bullet didn't go through his vest," announced Hanai to everyone.

"Damn, he's one lucky bastard, isn't he?" asked Harima with a not of relief. Harima removed his own helmet and wiped sweat from his forehead which had accumulated over the past 10 minutes.

"He's coming to," said Shimazu, noticing that Kaoji was starting to wake up. "You okay?"

Kaoji slowly sat up, he felt his forehead, and check the place where he was hit before answering, "I think so."

"I wish I could let you rest, but can you called Dogwood leader and tell him we're ready to blow the bridge?" asked Asou.

"Sure," he was picking up the radio. "Dogwood leader? This is Echo 5-3. We've secured Nakdong Bridge and prepped it for destruction, over."

"Rodger that 5-3, we've managed to secure Gimhae International for now. I believe some of the battalion is headed your way, over."

"Arigato Dogwood leader. We'll wait for friendly unit. Over and out."

"So… now what?" asked Yamako.

"We wait," stated Asou. They all looked around, a little unnerved by the silence after the shooting.

"Nice view from here," Kitsumori in an attempt to break the silence. The others were quick to agree and said conversational things to keep the silence from coming back.

"Harima, what are you doing?" asked Hanai, also trying to keep conversation alive.

"I was drawing a picture of the view. You know, to show home," Harima said.

"Oh," Hanai said vaguely and nodding his head a lot, clearly under a lot of stress. Harima too was showing signs of fear and stress from the past events. It shocked him that they'd only been in the country for a few hours.

"Oi, Hanai," Harima said.

"Hai?" Hanai asked wondering what Harima wanted.

"Um… uh… why don't we get along? I've just been thinking and shit… and… you know."

Hanai thought about that. Suddenly everything back home with Yakumo and everything else just didn't seem important. They'd been nearly killed two or three times already, so why should he worry about things that he may never get to see again? "I don't know any more. Actually, all my problems from before now seem unimportant and a little unreal."

Harima nodded, "Yeah, I know what ya' mean. Like me and the whole Tenma and Karasuma thing doesn't seem any more real either."

"Tsukamoto Tenma? What does she have to do with this?" Hanai asked perplexed.

Harima was quiet for a while and then, "I was in love with her for years."

Hanai was shocked, "Years?"

"Yup, I met her one day and couldn't get her out of my head. I even went to school for her."

Hanai began to see how things were falling together; everything about Harima seemed to fall into place. "Isn't she going out with Karasuma?"

"Yup, I don't know what to do," Harima said still sketching, trying to sound calmer than he was, but the subject was clearly painful and Hanai found himself sympathizing. "I just wish I could tell her."

Hanai slumped down next Harima and said, "I guess were in the same boat, both pursuing women who don't love us."

"Yeah, I guess so."

Hanai was now doing some hard thinking about his life and his love of Yakumo. He thought about a North Korean soldier firing AK-47s at him and a 76.2mm shell flying over his head. If that shell went lower he would be…

"Life is too short," Hanai said.

"Sure is," agreed Harima.

Hanai removed his glasses and cleaned them, "With me and Yakumo-chan… thinking that she would love me, it was dawned on me that I've been living a lie. You have too with Tenma."

Harima considered these words. It was true that Tenma-chan was probably gone forever as far as he was concerned. "Okay then, but now what?"

"I'm sure there is someone out there for me," Hanai said standing up and determine to find a reason to keep living, "and I'm gonna' find that girl."

"What about me?" asked Harima.

"I'm sure there is someone out there for you too," said Hanai encouragingly, it didn't seem right to leave Harima in a state of fear and depression and no reason to keep struggling to live.

Harima thought about their next course of action, "Okay, let's make a deal."

"What kind of deal?"

"We work together, keep each other alive, get home safely, and then if we still don't get along at least we can go our separate ways if we want to, deal?" said Harima holding out his hand.

"Deal, Kenji," Hanai said shaking his hand.

"Okay… uh…"

"Haruki, my given name is Hanai Haruki you retarded moron," berated Hanai.

"When did you two become friends," asked Kitsumori who walked over to them.

"Just now… sorta'," said Harima and he thought to himself, 'I guess this is a good thing… we need to work to gather and we are kinda' in the same boat like he said.'

"It's probably for the best," said Kitsumori, "right now we only have each other. I read in a book once that 'when the metal meets the meat, each other is all you got.' I'll tell Asou that we can leave you two alone now without worrying you'll kill each other."

"Were we that bad?" asked Harima perplexed.

"We must have," said Hanai with a little uncertainty. "But he's right. We really can't afford to fight each other all the time. We have to concentrate on fighting the enemy."

"Right," Harima nodded in agreement. "An enemy with millions of tanks, planes, guns, and soldiers."

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**1998 Hours; May 17****th****, 2010; the Tsukamoto Resident; Yagami, Japan**

Yakumo was sitting with her sister watching their favorite show. As the end credits ran Tenma reached for the remote.

"Nee-san, may I watch something," asked Yakumo.

"Huh, what did you want to watch?" asked Tenma with a half eaten cookie hanging from her mouth.

"The news."

"Why?"

"Well, with the war so close and Kenji-san…"

Tenma interrupted her little sister with a sly grin, "Since when do you call Harima-kun by his given name?"

"It's not like that… he only thinks of me as a friend," Yakumo said sadly.

"Oh… are you okay, Yakumo? I'm sure he has feelings for you," asked Tenma seeing her sister was upset.

"He… he loved… you."

"HUH!?!" Tenma was shocked and almost upending the heated table they were sitting at.

"He can't love me, there isn't room in his heart for me," Yakumo said depressed and not meeting her big sister's eyes.

Tenma didn't know what to say, "But I'm with Karasuma."

"He knows. He just doesn't know what to do now."

"Well... I'll talk to him and set him straight for you."

A smile crept over Yakumo's face, even though she knew her sister would probably mess up, it still made Yakumo happy to know the her big sister cared so much about her. "Arigato, Nee-san."

"Never fear Yakumo, there is nothing that can stop ONEE-CHAN POWA'!" Tenma yelled striking her pose on the table.

'Nee-san, you always know how to cheer me up,' Yakumo thought happily. When Tenma got off the table she changed the channel to a nationally viewed news program.

The saw images of a port in South Korea called Busan or Pusan, pending on your choice.

"Below you can see NATO and the Maritime Forces ships withdrawing South Korean and NATO soldiers from Busan Harbor," said a news reporter on one of the docks with a transport ship in the background. "German soldiers to the north engaged into minor skirmishes with North Korean soldiers. Japanese soldiers in the western part of Busan, however, were engaged in much more heavy fighting.

We know that Gimhae International Airport was secured by our nation's soldiers via a helicopter assault, but many were shot down by anti-air fire. Additional information on the choppers that were shot down and the number of the choppers shot down as well as the status of the soldiers inside are currently unavailable."

Yakumo watched and hoped for to see Harima, but no such image came. She could only hope he was okay. "Kenji-kun, be safe," whispered Yakumo to herself.

* * *

So ends day one of our heroes, I say heroes for the lack of a better word. Stay tuned for their second day in Busan. Review please.

Updated January 9, 2008: Still working, sorry for the mistakes. This chapter may read differently from its original form since I am making corrections, tightening up the plot, and most of all tightening up the story line and spellchecking.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. The UAZ-469 a similar seating capacity to the HUMMWV or any ordinary car, if you ignore the gunner. It has a driver and one passenger in front and can squeeze three people in the back. It also has a hatch for a single soldier to man a machine gun. It has much smaller trunk space than the HUMMWV which could hold two stretchers with wounded. It is however smaller than the HUMMWV and I think it has longer range. More UAZs have either a PKM light machine gun or sometimes an NSV or Kord heavy machine gun.

2. The Type-54 is the Chinese version of the Soviet TT-33 semi-auto hand gun. It fires eight Soviet 7.62x25mm rounds. The North Koreans know this gun as the Type-68.

3. The ZSU-57-2 is an old self-propelled anti-aircraft vehicle made back in the 1950s. It's basically a T-54/55 chasse with an open turret mounted. It has a twin 57mm auto-cannon. The vehicle has no fire control and must be target aircraft manually with iron sights. A lot of militaries have replaced the ZSU-57-2 with the ZSU-23-4 Shilka which features radar to assist in targeting aircraft making the Shilka much more popular. Only a hand full of nations still use the ZSU-57-2; North Korea being one of them. On another note, the open turret means that the gunner and assistant gunner are exposed to small arms and snipers.

4. The RPK is a Soviet light machine gun that replaced its predecessor the RPD. It is similar in appearance to the AK-74, but longer and was designed to receive drum clips. There is an another version called the RPK-74 made for the use of paratroopers and special forces, but the RPK-74 cannot receive drum clips, only a normal banana clip.


	6. Chapter 6: She is a Survivor

Welcome back ya'll. I don't own School Rumble, but I would like to own it.

Updated January 9, 2008: I always hated this chapter name, but I couldn't think of anything else. I did however liked how this chapter came out and started to alter the course of the story.

* * *

**Chapter 6: She is a Survivor**

"The ultimate goal of war is survival"

A quote from Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War

**0712 Hours; May 18****th****, 2010; the Nakdong Bridge; Pusan (Busan), South Korea**

"Hey, wake up!" yelled Shimazu who literally kicked Kitsumori, Hanai, and Harima awake.

"What?" asked Harima, who had been sleeping against the concrete barrier that separates the sidewalk and the highway. They all had slept that way through the night. It was not very comfortable place to sleep, but Harima and Kitsumori were use to not sleeping in beds and Hanai was too, but from his martial arts training, not being forced to be resourceful in finding places to live.

"The Major wants us to see us," said Asou. "Wake Rumune, Yamako, and Kaoji. We're to report to Battalion HQ."

5th squad made their way to the east side of the Nakdong Bridge where the 27th Infantry Battalion had set up their HQ. It was an underground subway station; it wasn't comfortable, but it gave great protection from air or artillery attacks. Located on one of the platforms was Major Daijin; 27th infantry battalion commander.

"Major," said Asou saluting; the others copied him.

Major Daijin Shiori was a 28 year old woman with dark hair in a tight bun and a steely glare that could reduce the strongest of men to cowering balls of fear. She was leaning over a map of Busan set on a card table and was discussing tactics with her subordinates.

"Corporal, where is your squad leader?" she asked.

"Dead, ma'am, and our platoon leader… and almost our entire platoon," Asou mumbled.

She sighed; apparently she'd heard this several times already. "Okay, if this is all that's left then consider yourself 5th squad and for now, 2nd platoon of Echo Company… and you are now a Sergeant. Understood?"

They nodded to show they understood.

"Good," she pointed to a the small island that the airport sat on, "Gimhae Airport is on this island made by the Nakdonggang River splitting and then rejoining is mostly under our control, but there are large areas where we don't have soldiers or don't know if the PKA are in. There are three bridges that span that connect the east side of the island and where we are. One was destroyed and a second is being held by the 26th Heliborne Battalion. The part of our battalion and the 28th Armor Battalion is holding Gimhae. Our problem is we don't know where the North Koreans are and we don't know if the Chinese have arrived yet. We have a M1109 HMMWV outside for you. Just check out a few neighborhoods and see if anyone is out there."

"Yes ma'am," said newly promoted Sergeant Asou.

The M1109 HMMWV was basically like a standard M1114 HMMWV with a M2 heavy machine gun, a drive seat, a front passenger seat, and two to three passengers behind the front. The difference was that the trunk was converted into more of a pickup truck style with a tarp covering it.

Harima got into the drivers seat and since Rumune was the only one who could speak or read Korean, he took shotgun. Kitsumori mounted the .50 caliber MG on the roof hatch. The others climbed into the back and trunk. Harima started the engine and took them west across the bridge and around the island.

Everyone kept their seatbelts off in case they had to quickly jump out of the HMMWV.

Like yesterday, the streets were deserted. It was unnerving to be in this ghost town like environment. Millions of people lived in Pusan and they hadn't seen anybody that wasn't in the military. Driving down a street Kitsumori saw movement ahead.

"Hey, is that a person ahead?" asked Kitsumori.

"Stop the car Harima," ordered Asou. Above Kitsumori pulled the bolt back on the Browning M2 and chambered a 12.7x99mm (.50 caliber) round. Hanai, Shimazu, and Yamako got out of the back and raised their weapons at a diner.

"Kitsumori, stay on gun. Harima, keep the engine running in case we need to make a run for it. Hanai, stay on guard here. Everyone else follow me," Asou said leading Rumune, Shimazu, and Yamako in the diner.

It wasn't anything fancy inside; counter, tables, kitchen in back, and various other things. It had the feel that normally the locals would gather here and eat together on a regular basis, it had the air of friendliness and family. There was a clanging noise from the kitchen. Shimazu and Rumune both raised their Remington 870s and pointed them at the kitchen door; ready to pump 12 gauge shotgun shells into anyone beyond the door. Kaoji slowly crept to the door, careful to stay out of Shimazu's and Rumune's line of fire. Kaoji slowly pushed the swinging door open.

They were greeted by the sight of a little girl peering around a stove. They all lowered their guns in shock of seeing the first living person not in a military uniform. The girl gave a little smile and waved. Dumbfounded, they slowly gave a slight wave in unison, Yamako even made a vague attempt at a smile. She was about 5 ft tall, with dark brown hair that was almost black, and pulled into a thick Asian style braided pony tail. She was wearing blue jeans and a grey sweater over a plane white T-shirt. She stared up at them with bright green eyes, eyes that leaned towards the bluish end and seemed to glow.

She spoke in Korean, naturally. Only Rumune understood and he spoke back to her.

"What'd she say?" asked Yamako.

"She was just saying hello," said Rumune.

"Ask her where her parents are?" said Asou.

"Where is your family," Rumune asked in Korean.

The girl hung her head and whispered, "They're gone. Soldiers came and…" Her voice trailed off.

"She lost her family sir," said Rumune, numb that someone could kill the parents of a little girl.

"Can't we do something with her sir? Maybe we can send her to the harbor area, surely NATO is evacuating refugees with the soldiers," suggested Kaoji.

Asou considered this, he didn't want to leave this a girl who appeared to be 11 or so years old alone in a war zone to wander the streets, but he wasn't sure if it would be safe to take her. Asou turned to face Rumune, "asked her name and why she is here."

"I can speak some Japanese," they all turned to face the young girl in surprise, "and to answer your question Corporal, my name is Li Mai, I am 10 years old, soon to 11. This is my uncles diner, but he left before I got here."

"Oh…," was all anyone could manage to say. She gave a sad smile and walked into the kitchen; they followed her in. In a corner of the kitchen was a blanket, a small pillow, a plant with the remains of a meal, a backpack, and, to their surprise, a Beretta M9 handgun and bayonet in a sheath.

"So are you taking me to the port or do I have to go by myself?" asked the Mai while folding up her blanket.

Asou knew they couldn't let her wander a city under siege, "Iē, we'll take you, but first we need to patrol the area a little."

She finished packing, slipped the Beretta into a bomber jacket that she put on, and turned to face them. "Okay, that's fine."

"That's fine? It'll be dangerous," said Yamako, they were shocked by her matter-of-fact tone in referring to the fact there was a war on around them.

"Is there a safer way?" she asked. No one could come up with a response.

Asou started to walk out of the diner across the street to the HMMWV when he heard a motor. A UAZ came around the block in front of the HMMWV. Rumune grabbed Mai and pulled her back inside. Kitsumori started to fire bursts of .50 cals at few North Koreans as they bailed from the UAZ, hitting one and killing him. A second soldier started to fire the PKM in long bursts at the HMMWV and the diner. A third man with an RPD started shooting from behind a trashcan he'd managed to get behind for cover. Two more soldiers were shooting with AK-47s from various spots.

Harima had managed to slip out of the driver's seat to the trunk where he was prepping his AT4.

"Harima! Save those rockets for tanks and APCs!" yelled Asou. Harima waved to show he understood. Hanai took very careful aim at the gunner from behind a concrete porch. He fired a single shot and hit the gunner on the UAZ in the head; he slumped down into the vehicle in a burst of blood and flesh. Hanai stared for a couple of seconds in shock, trying hard to comprehend the scene of violence. Kitsumori mowed down the remaining soldiers with the M2, a deafening silence ensued.

Mai walked out onto the street. "Don't! There may be more," shouted Rumune.

"There won't be, they never come in more then one UAZ. It'll be a two hours before anymore show up," she said.

Asou was starting to think this girl could be useful, "Do you know where the enemy is?"

"There is a SAM launcher south of here if that's what you mean," Mai said pointing to the south.

"Can you show us?" asked Asou.

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**1200 Hours; May 18****th****, 2010; western part of Pusan, South Korea**

Mai was sitting in the front seat telling Harima which way to go. She was wearing a helmet Hanai found in the trunk; it was a too big for her and slipped over her piercing green-blue eyes occasionally. Despite her age, she seemed to have been taught to understand the military.

"How do you know about military stuff?" asked Harima.

"Most of my family served in the AROK since its formation in 1945," she said, "They raise everyone to be ready for war and/or invasion and how to survive either one of them. They taught me how to shoot a gun, where to go, where to hide, and how to make an escape plan."

"Why can you speak Japanese?" asked Harima, she was growing on him.

"Manga," she simply answered pulling one of the Card Captor Sakura mangas and showing Harima. "I though that Japan or America would be the easiest place to run to, my father agreed, and so I was encouraged to learn English and Japanese. Other family members learned German or French."

"Your family sounds paranoid," Harima said.

Mai giggled, "Yeah they were, all my friends said it… but they were right… and it has kept me alive for the past week when the attack on Busan started." She looked down at the down at her backpack which was full of survival gear.

Harima smiled down at her, "I don't know your family, so I can't really judge them, but they clearly taught you survival because they cared."

She smiled back and pointed, "Turn here and turn off the engine."

Harima turned left into an alley behind a supermarket. He shut off the engine and they got out. Mai got out and went over to the back entrance of the supermarket. She adjusted the helmet out of her eyes again, pulled out a set of lock picks, and started to pick the lock. After several minutes the lock was opened, Mai drew her Beretta M9, and gently opened the door.

"I'd rather one of us go," Asou said pulling her out of the way. "Just tell us what to do."

She nodded, "When I came to get food yesterday I saw two SA-6 Gainfuls and maybe a dozen soldiers. They didn't have a lot of guys defending the SAMs."

She even pulled out a copy of 'Jane's Recognition Guide for Artillery' and showed them the page on the Gainful. It was in English and only Kaoji understood it. He read, "The SA-6 surface to air missile, known by its NATO reporting name the Gainful, it is one of the Soviet Union's primary SAM weapons along with the SA-8 Gecko, SA-7 Grail, and SA-13 Gopher. It has an effective range of 3km to 24km."

They crept into a back storage room. Mai hid in the storage room while the others went out into the store. Peeking around shelves, they snuck down the isles to the cash register where they could see two Gainfuls in the empty parking lot in front of the supermarket.

"Okay," Asou whispered, "Hanai, you break one of those windows so Harima can take a shot with the AT4. Everyone else, find a spot and shoot."

Harima aimed at the closet of the two Gainfuls. He looked through the sights on the rocket launcher. Hanai took a shovel from one of the store isles and smashed the window in front of Harima.

Outside the North Koreans looked up at the sound of smashing glass in surprise. Before they could even move Harima fired an 84mm rocket at a Gainful, sending it up in a firer explosion. Immediately, the rest of 5th squad opened fire. The North Koreans scattered because the parking lot was empty and there was no cover for them to take cover behind. Silence.

Harima, Hanai, and Shimazu went outside. They slowly approached the North Koreans on the ground. They all felt their stomachs clench at the sight of pools of blood forming around the soldiers. They came up next to the second Gainful. Harima and Shimazu crept around to see if anything on the other side of the mobile SAM launcher.

Hanai was about to follow when he heard a sound of metal door opening. Hanai slowly turned around. There was a PKA soldier leaning out of the Gainful, in an AA defense crew uniform, and a with a Type-68 handgun raise in Hanai's direction. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. The stared, Hanai raised his Type 89, and the soldier fire at Hanai. Hanai felt a burning feeling in his side and he fell over.

Sound seemed to be distorted along with this feeling of slow motion. Hanai saw the soldier stand over him. He aimed the Type-68 at Hanai's head. He began to pull the trigger. Then his eyes went blank as blood and brain matter exploded from his head. He fell backwards away from Hanai. Soon Shimazu was standing over Hanai with his Remington 870; he pulled the slide bolt back, and ejected a smoking spent 12 gauge buckshot shotgun shell.

Suddenly, Harima was dragging Hanai back to the supermarket. Hanai was just beginning to realize that he'd been shot and was bleeding.

"Oh my…," began Hanai to say.

"Hang in there," Harima seemed to yell from far away. Things were starting to get dark for Hanai. Slowly things were fading.

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**1430 Hours; May 18****th****, 2010; Pusan, Republic of (South) Korea**

"I think he's coming to," said a distant voice. Hanai could feel the ground shaking; he also became aware that he wasn't on the parking lot, but on metal.

"Yo, Haruki, you okay?" asked a voice that sounded like Harima.

"Kenji?" groaned Hanai.

"Yo," greeted Harima from the driver's seat.

"Where am I?" asked Hanai, disoriented.

"In the HMMWV," said Kitsumori from the gunner's hatch.

Hanai looked down to see a bandage around waist. The pain was now a constant dull burning sensation, but not too bad.

"Who treated me?" Hanai asked.

"She did," Yamako said pointing to Mai who waved a bloody hand. "She just seemed to know what to do and leap into action."

Mai shrugged, "It was one of the survival techniques I was taught. You know, like how to treat a gunshot wound."

Hanai marveled at this 10 year old; she seems to know survive the battlefield better than they do.

"Is it me or does Mai seem more prepared than us?" asked Hanai while struggling to sit up.

"I was just taught how to defend myself and how to survive. I wasn't taught to look for fighting, but to escape it," she said while flipping reading one of Harima's manga manuscripts. "Hanai-sempai you shouldn't sit up for a while and Harima-sempai this manga is pretty good."

"Arigato Mai-chan," said Harima from the driver's seat.

"Harima, how far are we from Gimhae?" asked Asou who was sitting next to Hanai.

"Uh… ETA 5 minutes sir."

"We're going to the airport?" asked Hanai.

"Hai, a group of North Korean paratroopers, UAZs, and BMDs attack Gimhae International while we were on patrol. Major Daijin wants all of Echo Company to hold up at Gimhae," explained Asou.

Soon they arrived at Gimhae International Airport, that main airport that serves the city of Pusan. Trenches, sandbag bunkers, barbwire, and other make-shift defenses along with bomb craters covered the airfield. A handful of AH-1S Cobras, AH-6J Little Birds, and UH-1 Hueys were lined up by the main terminal and various hangers. Captured AA SAM launchers and guns were spread out across the entire airport.

Harima drove into an empty hanger and shut off the engine. Shimazu and Rumune helped Hanai out of the trunk of the vehicle, but he seemed mostly able to walk on his own; he was just a little shaky. Mai pulled out a portable propane stove and started to boil a pot of water. Soon Mai was cooking instant noodles that they were sure she took from the supermarket's storeroom, but they hadn't eaten since breakfast and were starving so no protested. Once again they marveled at how Mai seemed to persevere through everything and take the lead.

"The sky sure is pretty," said Mai, watching the setting sun while waiting for the noodles. "But the silence is a little scary."

"Mmm," Harima nodded with an agreeing grunt.

"Harima-sempei, what is Japan like?" she asked while wrapping her arms around her legs and resting her chin on her knees.

Harima thought for a moment before answering, "I guess it's kinda' like here before the invasion, but most people really don't worry about an invasion or attack. It just doesn't seem like something that will happen to us because we aren't on the mainland."

"It must be nice," she said quietly.

"Hai… I just didn't know how nice," Harima said realizing how different things were now. 'I wonder if Japan will be the same when I get home,' thought Harima.

Asou, who had reported to the Regimental HQ at Gimhae, walked into the hanger. "I've reported in and talked to the Colonel and Major Daijin."

"What's the word?" asked Yamako.

Asou frowned, "The North Koreans have only launched light armor and airborne units at us with little air support. The Germans to the north of Pusan have encountered similar attacks. The evacuation fleet has met no attacks and moving ahead of schedule, they think they will be done in a week."

"A week? That still sounds like a long time," said Rumune.

"They have to get some 4,500,000 South Korean soldiers and civilians, 38,000 U.S. soldiers, and 45,000 NATO soldiers out of the country," said Asou.

"Why is the NATO coalition so small? Shouldn't it be bigger? They Commies are attacking with like 6,000,000 soldiers," asked Kitsumori, a little outraged.

"Think about it," said Mai, "After the Iraq War the US lost a lot of creditability with its own people and allies, so they can't commit huge numbers of troops without some public outcry. Also, my country really does most of its business with North America nations like the US and Canada. We don't have as strong economic ties with Europe or the European Union so they won't send a huge force over. But it is strong enough that it isn't in their interests for us to fall. Japan also won't send a large force because our nations don't have very friendly ties and virtually no economic ties. If this war wasn't personally affecting your nation I doubt you'd even be here."

A stunned silence followed Mai's speech. "You're very smart for your age, you know that right?" asked Kitsumori. Mai just shrugged and asked Asou, "What about me? Where do I go?"

"Well, to speed up the evacuation of civilians, transport planes will be sent here in two days to Gimhae to extract civilians from Pusan. Hopefully we can put you on one of those planes where you'll be taken to Japan, North America, or Europe. For now I've been ordered to be personally responsible for you."

Mai nodded and smiled a little. Kaoji turned to face Asou, "Sir, what about the Chinese?"

Asou sighed and said, "The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is advancing slowly with heavy armor and infantry. Command thinks they will be here in the next 5 or 6 days. I do know that we don't want to be here when they do show up. Command also thinks they North Korean attacks will get stronger soon enough."

Silence fell over all of them again as they realized another fact of how unprepared they were for war; the training just wasn't enough. They all felt so alone and vulnerable. They looked at Mai and watched her pouring noodles into their army issued dishes. There was something about her, something strong, confident, and certain that made them feel a little better. They gratefully ate and watched as night fell.

* * *

I didn't originally intend to make Mai a main character, but I toyed with the idea, liked it, and went with it. She'll be an important character in the coming chapters. She personally appeals to be because of her strength and ability to plan and persevere. You know what I mean? Anyways, please review and I hope ya'll enjoy this chapter.

Updated January 9, 2008: I still liked how Mai began a character in my story. She was just a random idea I got and she started to grow on me. I hope to get one more chapter edited before I clock out for the night.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya


	7. Chapter 7: The Sky is Falling

We'll here is the next chapter. I don't own School Rumble; it's property of Jin Kobayashi. If anyone sees similarities between my story and the games Red Alert 2 or World in Conflict it's because they helped inspire my story. Hope ya'll enjoy.

Updated January 9, 2008: If I get this done in a timely matter I may be able to get chapter 8 up tonight too.

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**Chapter 7: The Sky is Falling**

"Cluster bombing from B-52s is very, very accurate

The bombs always hit the ground"

Murphy's Laws of Combat

**0928 Hours; May 19****th****, 2010; main concourse of Gimhae International Airport; Pusan, Republic of Korea**

'Dear Yakumo-san,' wrote Harima:

'How are you? I'm okay here in Korea. I think we'll be finished soon and get to go home for a few days. Today we're helping with the evac a little. It's a little scary out here because it's so quiet; it makes me wonder when the enemy will come. I hope your well.

Harima

PS I'm sending you my manuscript with this letter.'

Harima folded his letter and placed it in a mail bag that would hopeful be put on a plane to Japan, he didn't write how bad it was really as to not scare her. Thousands of people were gathering at the main terminal of Gimhae International Airport to board planes to North America and Europe. Because it was believe that the war will come to Japan and Japan had limited land space so it was decided to send the refugees across the Pacific and even the Atlantic.

They watched the people of Pusan come in to escape the war. Some like Mai looked prepared for the war, but most didn't. Most of them looked scared and worried; some looked resigned to their fates as though they didn't expect any more than the worse. An air of fear and weariness hung over the whole terminal.

"Yo, Kenji," Harima turned to face Hanai. "Yo, Haruki."

They walked together down the terminal; they were to patrol the gates and waiting areas to make sure that panic didn't turn into riots.

"It is me or do these people seem not to like us?" asked Harima, noticing that some of refugees were glaring at them and most were avoiding them (1).

Hanai only shrugged since he didn't know the answer either. He watched a British Airways plane pull into one of the gate; many civilian airlines were contracted to help with the evacuation. They walked over to the gate that the plane was pulling into because fights often broke out as people tried to get on planes. Some AROK soldiers joined them which helped because neither Hanai nor Harima could speak Korean.

Some hours later Hanai and Harima went back to the hanger that 5th squad had been sleeping in for the past few days. To their surprise Mai was still there.

"Mai-chan, weren't you leaving?" asked Hanai.

She smiled up at them and said, "I'm waiting for the flights to Japan."

"But they won't arrive until 1500 hours, you really want to wait that long?"

She gave a sad smile, "I'm sure that if anyone in my family survived, they'll be there."

Neither Harima nor Hanai could think of a response, so they just sat down. Harima decided to check on the HMMWV and make sure it was working okay. Hanai decided to practice sure material arts. Mai quietly watched the skies for US or Japanese planes to Japan.

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**1200 Hours; May 18****th****, 2010; The Hague; Brussels, Belgium**

"I guess we should be grateful that nuclear missiles aren't flying around," said British Prime Minister Donald Hackett.

"That would be because the Soviets and the Americans would blast China and North Korea into oblivion if nukes started going off," spat French President Francis Marquis.

"What are the Soviets doing?" asked German Chancellor Anne Strömvall, placing a slight hostile emphasis on the word 'Soviets'.

They all turned to face President Crane; she cleared her throat and said, "Premier Bolotnikov hasn't taken a position on the war yet. He was moved air/missile defense frigates to Vladivostok and Sakhalin from the White Sea and Baltic Sea bases. He increased maritime patrols and air patrols as well as digging in his troops nearest the China, Korea, and Japan. It all appears to be defensive; my generals say that his forces are ill equipped for a large scale offensive operation."

"Will he join the war?" asked Hackett.

"He may. The Soviets feel very uncomfortable about a war on their doorstep."

"This war is getting very complicated," said groaned Chancellor Strömvall.

"We may need to send more soldiers," said Canadian Prime Minister Harold de Lac.

"My nations people are not going to like that at all," said Marquis.

"Nor mine," said Strömvall.

"Because of the refugees, my people and the Americans are calling for increased military action," said de Lac. "Plus we do a lot of business with Japan and they're under threat of invasion so support in no shortness."

"True, I have the support of the Congress, Senate, military, and the people, but I can't afford to be reckless or they'll all think it's going to be another Iraq," said Crane darkly. "In any case I intend to send more ships and planes over. With little land mass between the nations of Japan and Korea I doubt more land troops are going to be need."

"True," said Chancellor Strömvall, "but you may want send heavy weapons to counter the heavy Chinese tanks."

"Yes, that sound like a good idea," said President Crane trying to whip her exhaustion from her eyes. She was hoping that they could stop the Chinese and North Koreans soon before the war grew larger.

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**1509 Hours; May 19****th****, 2010; Hanger D-5, Gimhae International Airport; Pusan, South Korea**

"Why can't I get on one of those planes," whined Mai as she stared at a group of Boeing 757s and 747s pulling into the gates across the tarmac.

"Because they're evacuating wounded civilians and soldiers first," said Asou. The first planes for Japan had arrived, but Mai couldn't get on one yet.

Mai decided to spend her time by cleaning her gun. "They might not let you take that on a plane," said Yamako.

"Oh, they won't fine it. My aunt told me how to conceal a weapon," Mai said in that matter of fact tone of hers when she talked about the war.

"Okay… so Yamako how long are you sticking around," asked Kaoji trying to change the subject.

"Don't know. I'm really a chopper gunner, so I don't really belong here," he said with a shrug.

"Mmnn… to bad, you a useful rifleman," said Asou.

"Arigato, Sergeant Asou."

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**1515 Hours; May 19****th****, 2010; A USAF AWACS, 9,000m above sea level; Pusan, South Korea**

9,000m above the sea level was a US Air Force Boeing E-3 Sentry AWACS (2) patrolling over Pusan and providing command and control to NATO air operations.

"I'm telling you the Sox got a shot at the for the division title this year," said one of the radar technician in English.

"Yeah right," said a communication officer rolling his eyes.

"Look, Boston has a put a good team together this year and… what the fuck?"

"What?" asked the communication officer, seeing his friend shift subjects from baseball to his actual job.

"I'm got multiple contacts. Uhh… they are large, traveling at 600 knots, course heading vector 235 from vector 015, altitude 7,500m. Judging by all that I think they're bombers with a small fighter escort," inferred the radar technician examining his screens. "… wait, I got an ID. They're KPAF (Korean People's Air Force) Tu-95 Bears (3) and MiG-21 Fishbeds."

"Right," said the communication officer leaping into action. "USS Truman and Washington, this is AWACS Sky Spy we have incoming Bears heading for Pusan from the north. Scramble fighters at once."

"This is the Truman flight control, scrambling fighters. Keep us posted Sky Spy."

"This is the Washington flight control, sending interceptors; we'll turn over our pilots to you once they're in the air."

"Rodger, Spy Eye out. Bobby, do you know where those Bears are headed to?" asked the communication officer.

"I'm not sure… holy shit, I think they're bound for the evacuation at Gimhae!" said Bobby.

"Fuck!" the communication officer pressed some buttons, "hello? Gimhae? This is AWACS Sky Spy, you have group of Bears a headed your way. Abort the evacuations and get your people underground now!"

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**1527 Hours; May 19****th****, 2010; Hanger D-5, Gimhae International Airpart; Pusan, Republic of Korea**

An air raid siren rang across the airport, loud, long, and frightening.

"What's going on?" asked Asou, sensing panic in the air.

Kaoji turned on his radio and made a call, "WHAT!?! Holy… yeah I understand," he switched the radio off and turned to Asou, "Sir, all flights have been aborted. We've got bombers inbound."

"Shit," Asou whispered, "Okay, Harima start up the HMMWV, we're getting out of here."

Kitsumori, Yamako, Shimazu, Rumune, and Kaoji started throwing their gear into the HMMWV. Hanai grabbed Mai with one hand and her backpack with the other and almost tossed her into the back of the HMMWV. Harima fiddled with the keys, and had trouble putting them into the ignition with his hands shaking.

Once Harima had the engine started and everyone was in, he raced out of the hanger.

Kitsumori looked out of the back to see black dots in the sky approaching the airport. "Hurry Kenji! I think I see bombs falling!" yelled Kitsumori.

Indeed, soon a high pitched whistling was heard followed by a sound like rolling thunder. Harima was just realizing they couldn't out run the bombs.

'Think Kenji, think of these bombs as cops and you're on your motorcycle. What to do… wait that's it!' Harima thought. He saw an alley between two concrete buildings; it wasn't much, but it just might work. He wheeled right, almost losing control of the HMMWV, and sped into the alley.

"Cover your heads!" Harima screamed.

The ground was shaking harder and the roaring din of death was approaching. Soon waves of bombs were falling around them; it was like the sky was falling and raining fire and steel on the earth. After a few horrifying seconds that felt like days, it was over. Slowly they raised their heads and saw the building on their right had been leveled; the one on their right was barely standing.

"Kenji," Hanai said in a shaky voice, "I don't know weather to kill you or thank you."

"We'll worry about it later, we're all alive. Let's check out the airport," said Asou hoarsely.

Harima drove around what looked like a wasteland of hell. The runways, tarmacs, and taxiways were full of craters, most of the buildings were either burning or completely destroyed, and smoke and haze filled the air. The only sound was the roaring fires and the distant sound of the bombers prop engines.

They approached the main terminal which took a huge beating from the carpet bombing runs. Slowly they dismounted and entered the terminal. They were greeted by a scene of carnage; mangled bodies, missing limbs, stay arms, severed heads, pools and smatterings of blood, and looks of panic and shock on those who still had recognizable faces. Harima stood in horror, shaking at the sight of dismembered bodies. Kitsumori stumbled to a corner and vomited. Kaoji fell to his knees. They others felt like everything was in slow motion and stared. Behind them, Mai silently wept and approach one of the corpses.

"Mai… don't," Yamako feebly tried to say, to keep her from seeing the terrifying scene before them.

"Th… th… this man…," she said between sobs, "is… my… uncle… and I think… this is my aunt… and cousins." She fell to her knees and held her hands over her uncle as though she wanted to embrace him one last time.

No one could say anything. No one knew what to say. What could you say to a girl who had just lost any hope of being reunited with her family? Plus, she'd been their source of hope and confidence. Despite Mai's age, she been so strong that they feed from her will to survive. Seeing her cry made them feel so weak and feeble.

"Hello?" called a voice from around a corner.

"Who's there?" called Asou. A captain fallowed by a female lieutenant and a squad of soldiers came around the corner.

"Who are you?" asked Asou.

"I'm Captain Nara Tsubaki Dogwood Leader; this is 1st Lieutenant Zakito Karin, Dogwood 1-2. And you Corporal?"

"I'm technically a Sergeant, sir. I'm Sergeant Asou Hiroyoshi, Echo 5-1. This is… uh… sort of my squad… and 2nd platoon of Company E."

"Mmmnn… didn't I talk to you before?" asked Captain Nara looking like he was trying to remember something.

"I think so, sir. We're a squad whose chopper crashed and was cut off from their unit."

He nodded in recognition, "Hai, I remember you now… your CO didn't make it through the air raid, so I'm taking charge of your company for now."

"I understand, sir. What are our orders," asked Asou.

"You have transport?" asked Captain Nara, he and his lieutenant seemed to be the only ones who were calm and collective.

"One HMMWV, sir."

"I want you to fall back to the bridge. The KPA are preparing a larger assault and Major Daijin doesn't think a heap of rubble is worth protecting. Also I want you to take some wounded with you."

"Hai!" Asou said saluting.

"Captain?" Hanai spoke up noticing that the captain's blue hair looked familiar.

"Hai, Private?"

"Do you have any relatives in Yagami High School?" Hanai asked.

The captains eyes opened in surprise, "You know my nephew Kentaro?"

"Me, Harima, and Sergeant Asou were classmates of his, sir," said Hanai.

"Is he here too?" asked the captain, showing signs of nervousness for the first time.

"No sir, he joined the Air Self-Defense Forces. He's still in Japan… I think."

Captain Nara sighed in relief, "Thank god. Well… get moving."

"Sir," they responded. Harima picked Mai up and carried her in his arms to the HMMWV. She leaned her head against his chest. He placed her into the back between Hanai and Asou. Hanai placed the spare helmet on her head and wrapped his jacket around her on as a gesture to show she was safe.

A couple of Dogwood Company soldiers place a man on stretcher and helped two walking wounded into the trunk of the HMMWV. As soon as they were in, Harima started the HMMWV and drove to the Nakdong Bridge.

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**1600 Hours; May 19****th****, 2010; Office of General Yuri Polikov; Soviet Pacific Command; Vladivostok, Russia; Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic**

"Comrade General Polikov?" asked a Soviet major in Russian.

"Yes?" said Polikov looking up from his paperwork.

"I have word from the situation at the South Korean port of Pusan," said the major handing a file to his commander.

"Thank you, please make your report," said General Polikov accepting the file.

"Yes Comrade General. NATO is speeding up the evacuation as much as possible so they do not have to engage the People's Liberation Army and there heavily armed force. Chinese Premier Lao Zhang is calling for us to take action."

Polikov gave a snort of contempt, "He can't be serious. We are the Arm Forces of the the glorious Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic; we have orders to protect our motherland. I have orders from Glorious Comrade Premier Nikolay Bolotnikov to defend Vladivostok and Sakhalin. I will not move the 4th Red Army or the 4th Red Air Force or the 7th Red Fleet just because they can't handle a war they started, those yellow jackasses are on their own."

The major opened his mouth and then closed it. "You wanted to say something major?"

"Well… uh Comrade General this would be against our traditional enemies the Americans," the major reasoned.

General Polikov glared at his subordinate, "You don't understand. This war is not our concern. I will not waste my men and resources."

General Polikov stood up and looked out his window. He had a nice view of the navel yard at Vladivostok. For a few second he watched a Slava Class cruiser pull into a dock. "Besides…"

The major looked up when his superior spoke. "… I don't want to see another war."

The major quietly left the room once he realized his commander was brooding in past memories of past wars.

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**2000 Hours; May 19****th****, 2010; the Tsukamoto Residence, Yagami; Kanagawa Prefecture, Japanese Federation**

Yakumo sat in front of the TV with her sister watching The Three Who Got Slashed (4), their favorite samurai show. Once the end credits started to roll Yakumo immediately changed the channel to the news.

"And now for our top story," said a reporter. A picture of an airport on fire appeared next to the news anchor man, "Gimhae International Airport was being used to evacuate South Koreans soldiers and civilians. During the evacuation 24 North Korean heavy bombers carpet bombed Gimhae International Airport. Fortunately, most of the civilians had been taken away on earlier flights, but large unconfirmed numbers of soldiers and civilians have been killed. We now go to Yoko on the scene."

The scene changed to a subway station with a woman holding a microphone standing in front of it in the screens center. "Yoko here, I'm currently at the 27th Infantry Battalion HQ. Currently the death toll at Gimhae is estimated at 324 civilians, 207 South Korean soldiers, and 165 Japanese soldiers." She walked up a staircase to the street surface. A big military car (5) pulled up next to the subway entrance.

Her eyes widen when she saw who got out of the car. Harima, Hanai, and Asou with a group of other people leap out of the car. She saw them help bleeding men out of the back, but to her relief Harima didn't seem to be hurt. His uniform did look a little burned however and she could see dirt, grim, and dried blood on him too.

Next, Harima carried a small girl out of the car and started to carry her into small restaurant by the station entrance. The reporter followed them inside where they were setting up some places to sleep.

"Ano, sumimasen (excuse me), but were you just at Gimhae?" asked the reporter. They all looked at her, but it didn't really seem like they were seeing her; they eyes all seemed to penetrate her and see things miles beyond. Slowly they nodded.

"I see, and what happened?"

One man that Yakumo remember meeting before, but couldn't remember his name said flatly, "They bombed us."

"Hai, but what happened?"

"They bombed us. There isn't anything else to say," said another man that Yakumo didn't recognize, but looked order than other men. Out of the corner of the screen Yakumo could see Hanai and Harima tucking the little girl into a blanket. She was surprised at Harima's gentleness in the way he treated her and even more surprised that he and Hanai weren't fighting. The reporter continued to asked questions, but no one gave an answer that seemed to satisfy her.

"Well, it seems they don't want to talk about what happen. This Yoko, live from Pusan, Republic of Korea."

Yakumo smiled, "He's alive." Her happiness was marred by the look of distance horror. She wondered what he had seen that day.

"Harima-kun will be fine," said Tenma. "He's a strong person. He'll be back soon enough."

Yakumo smile at her sister's attempt to cheer her up, "Arigato, Nee-san."

* * *

"War is hell", according to Major General William T. Sherman and he's right. I doubt I can convey the true horror of war and violence, but maybe I have gotten something across. Please review.

Updated January 9, 2010: Okay, I don't think chapter 8 will be up today, but I promise it will be tomorrow.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. During World War II Japan occupied Korea. The occupation was brutal and cruel, and to my understanding both North and South Korea holds a grudge against the Japan. Japan has done much to change that though and many prime ministers have said things that pissed off the Koreans and reopening old wounds.

2. AWACS or Airborne early Warning And Control System, us a type of plane equipped with powerful radar and monitoring devices. They were first created by the United States to replace the radar towers along the US coastline that watched for warships and warplanes. AWACS are not as adept at monitoring ground movements as they are at monitoring surfaces ships or planes. The E-3 Sentry is used in the USAF and a variation are used by the rest of NATO including the RAF, French Air Force, and Luftwaffe. The pilots and technicians total about 20 crewmen. It's Russian counter-part is the Beriev A-50, known by its NATO reporting name the 'Mainstay'.

3. As far as I know, the People's (North) Korean Air Force does not have any heavy bombers in service like the Tupolev Tu-95, known by its NATO reporting name as the 'Bear'. That's real life, this is my story.

4. 'The Three Who Got Slashed' is a fictional feudal age Japan samurai TV drama that Tenma, Yakumo, and Harima all enjoyed watching in the actual episodes of School Rumble. The translations for the shows name vary, the 'official' translation used by Funimation when they produced the English dubbed version of School Rumble is 'The Three for the Kill', but I first saw School Rumble in its unofficial fan subbed version's name for the show which I used in my story.

5. Keep in mind that Yakumo probably doesn't know what a HMMWV is and to her it would be some military car.


	8. Chapter 8: Buring Bridges

Next chapter. I don't own School Rumble. Thank you for reading my story.

Updated January 9, 2008: I think this whole going back and editing about half my story is a good idea, don't you? Sorry about no new chapters for a while, but never realized how poorly written my early chapters were.

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**Chapter 8: Burning Bridges**

"Wars were lost because rivers weren't crossed"

General George S. Patton

**0650 Hours; May 20****th****, 2010; Sae's Family Restaurant, east bank of the Nakdonggang River; Pusan, South Korea**

"Ohaiyo (good morning), Harima-sempai," said Mai noticing Harima was awaking. There was a sizzling sound and the smell of food in the air. Mai apparently had found same food in the back of restaurant they had all slept in and she was cooking bacon and eggs.

The Kaoji and Rumune had set a table for all of them. Yamako help Mai place food on the table and they all ate in silence. Mai was doing her best to appear to be her usual semi-cheerful confident self, but there was a sort of distance in her eyes. This held true with everyone; they all had a look of weariness and distance fear in they eyes. Hanai recalled Drill Sergeant Green calling such a look the 'thousand yard stare' and it was the side effect of witnessing violence of this scale.

"How long have we been in Korea?" asked Shimazu.

"Uh… I think this is our forth day," said Asou.

"Huh, it feels like a life time," said Rumune who counted on his fingers to see if it had really been only 4 days.

"Well, for me it has been a life time," Mai said with a small giggle. The others smiled, happy to hear Mai laugh; it was like a stimulant that made them feel stronger.

"I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but I heard that PKA armor has taken Gimhae," said Kaoji.

"Or at least what was left of it," said Harima. They all laughed a little at that, but the laughter died almost as quickly as it came.

"Seriously though, they'll attack here soon… and it will be a big ass assault with heavy tanks. We… might not live," said Kaoji; the other nodded to show they understood the severity of the situation. Suddenly, a phone rang by the cash register making them all jump. They all looked at each other as the phone rang a second time. Slowly, Mai walked over and answered the phone.

"Hello?" Mai asked in Korean.

"Hello? Who is this?" asked a voice on the other end of the line, "Is Kim there?"

"I'm sorry, but it seems the owner of this place left a while ago. If you're still in Pusan you may want to do the same?" Mai said seriously into the phone while the other watched curiously.

"I see, thank you. Good bye young miss," the person hung up before Mai could say good bye back.

"Who was that?" asked Asou.

"Don't know, someone looking for someone who must have worked here," said Mai as she placed the phone back on the receiver.

"Hanai, how's that wound? Can you fight?" asked Asou.

"Hai, it doesn't hurt too much. I should be fine," Hanai said with a shadow of his old determination.

"Good, cause I'm sure I'm gonna' need all of you today," Asou said gravely.

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**1200 Hours; May 20****th****, 2010; the Nakdong Bridge; Pusan, South Korea**

It was noon. Mai was left down in the subway station and the others were up on the east side of the Nakdong Bridge using destroyed cars and sandbags as fortifications. Asou was almost bought to tears by the sight of what remained of Echo Company; only a few battered squads; he and the 7 others was all that was left of 2nd platoon. Joining them was Captain Nara and Dogwood Company, since he was acting commander of Echo Company until they got a replacement company CO (command officer).

They had a bunch of RPG-7s they'd captured from North Korean soldiers, one TOW launcher, one Browning M2 .50 caliber heavy machine gun, three Type-91 hand held SAM launchers, a armed with a US built M-24 bolt-action rifle sniper, and two living radiomen with radios; roughly 95 soldiers all together.

A group of men running towards them appeared on the horizon of the bridge. Echo and Dogwood Companies raised their weapons.

1st Lieutenant Zakito looked through a pair of binoculars and yelled out, "They're friendlies! Hold your fire!"

The call to hold fire was repeated down the line. Scouts from Dogwood Company raced for their lines, they leaped over the barriers, and joined their company. "Captain Nara, the KPA is starting their attack. We saw some UAZs and BMPs coming our way plus infantry."

"Right," Captain Nara said, he then yelled to the companies, "We have enemy vehicles and ACPs inbound! Brace yourselves!"

They all checked their weapons.

"You two!" Captain Nara yelled towards Shimazu and Rumune, "Arm those demolition charges. If they start to overrun us I'll need you to blow the bridge."

Shimazu and Rumune immediately grabbed a set of wires and attached one to a detonator and left the second hanging lose to avoid a premature detonation.

A low humming noise came from across the bridge and five UAZs raced towards them.

"Aim for the drivers!" yelled Captain Nara to the defenders.

A booming metallic thud came from the M2 .50 cal as it fired its heavy and extremely powerful cartridges. The windshield of the leading UAZ was blown in by the .50 cal, killing the driver. With no driver, the UAZ crashed into a second one sending them both into the remains of the ZSU-57-2 that 5th squad had destroyed four days ago. The sniper killed a driver of a third UAZ, sending it out of control into the concrete barrier that separated the sidewalk from the highway. The soldiers in the forth and fifth UAZs bailed out of the vehicles and used them for cover.

Kitsumori fired short bursts of automatic fire to make his shooting as accurate as possible. Kaoji fired his Type 89 assault rifle, but he'd never been a good shot and was to his it perspective was wasting ammo for him to shot at this range. Shimazu and Rumune weapons were meant for close quarters, especially Rumune's MP-5, so they held their fire until they enemy came closer. Harima, Hanai, and Yamako, and Asou fired semi-auto shots, trying to make accurate shots.

Harima felt the bolt of his gun lock in the open position; his clip was empty. As he loaded a new clip in he felt a stinging, burning sensation on his check as something green raced past him. Whipping his right check and withdrawing it he saw blood. Another bright neon green light flashed by him. Harima realized that the green lights were tracer rounds (1).

Harima ducked down behind a wrecked taxi that he and Hanai were using for protection from incoming fire. Hanai leaned around the hood of the cab and shot a North Korean in the stomach. He keeled over, clutching his stomach, and collapsed on the ground. Hanai didn't pause as he'd done before; there just wasn't time to dwell on anything, but just keep on surviving.

Soon, there was silence. "Don't get cocky people!" yelled Captain Nara, "They were only a scout group. They'll come with greater force next."

He turned to Kaoji and said, "You with the radio. See if you can secure us some fire support. If we need air or artillery fire, we won't have time to wait."

"Yes sir!" yelled Kaoji back as he got on his radio.

The creaking sound of metal on metal rang from the west side of the bridge. BMP-2s and PT-76s with infantries marching with the armor for cover were coming across now. 30mm auto-cannon from a BMP-2 fired away at the .50 cal.

"Use that TOW launcher on that PT-76 on the left," shouted 1st Lieutenant Zakito. A soldier responded immediately and fired a wire guided AT missile at the designated PT-76. The amphibious/light tank took a direct hit to the turret, which was blown open. They could see flames coming from where the TOW missile had struck the tank.

A second PT-76 took aim and fired at the TOW launcher, but aimed too low. However, it did hit a car that three soldiers were using for cover; they disappeared in a burst of fire, smoke, and flying metal. Harima could see pieces of what he now knew were human flesh, he wanted to be sick, but the PKA didn't seem to plan on giving the time.

Instead, Harima raised his AT4 and aimed carefully at the offending PT-76. It was a little far out, but still within his range and hand its flank exposed to him. He fired. The rocket flew into the rear of the PT-76 and detonated the ammo and fuel which sent the tank up in flames.

Asou grabbed an RPG-7 and fired at a BMP-2. Lacking heavy armor the BMP-2 couldn't stop the high velocity AT rocket Asou fired and was too destroyed.

As for the PKA infantry, they when scattering for cover as their armor was being destroyed.

'Mmmnn… they're falling back. Not surprising, nothing suspicious,' Captain Nara though. 'What will be their next step? Scouts and a light attack group failed to overrun us. So… they'll regroup and attack with much greater force.'

"Lieutenant," he called to his second into command. She wheeled to face her CO.

"They'll now know we're dug in defensive positions. I guessing we'll see T-54s, T-62s… maybe Mi-24s or MiG-19s in support," he said to her.

"Hai, I have the men brace themselves for armor, air, and artillery attacks," she said.

"Arigato, Zakito. I don't know how I'd run this company without you."

Zakito grinned at the compliment and then made sure Echo Company and Dogwood Company were ready for a heavier assault.

"Here they come!" screamed a soldier as T-54s and BMP-2s approached their line.

"Launch smoke!" yelled 1st Lieutenant Zakito. Some soldiers tossed white smoke grenades to prevent the enemy tanks from engaging them from outside the range of their AT weapons.

Through the smoke came a T-54 with infantry ducking behind them for protection like before. The TOW crew fired a sabot at the tank, splitting the turret open. The Harima and Hanai could see the enemy infantry behind the disabled tank and they opened fire on them.

A sound of rotors came from the northwest. Kitsumori looked up to see three Mi-24 Hinds flying in from the west side of the river. Hanai and Harima saw the Hinds too.

"Shit! I think they're firing at us!" yelled Harima.

"Run for it!" roared Hanai. The both ran from the taxi they were using for cover just in time to avoid being engulfed by volley of free-flight rockets and auto-cannon fire. They were oblivious to their surroundings in their panic, all that mattered was to get to cover. They zigzagged, very aware of 23mm fire raining down around them.

"Over here!" shouted Shimazu, waving to them from behind a pickup truck. Hanai and Harima made mad a dash to their friends. They were getting near when, suddenly, a whistling/screeching noise from above made them looked up. A volley of rockets was speeding down at them. Hanai and Harima dropped to their stomachs and covered their heads with their hands. They peeked up to see the rockets roar past them and pound the pickup truck Shimazu and Rumune were using for cover.

It looked as if the blasts were happening in slow motion. Hanai and Harima raced for the blast area. Shimazu had been blown several yards away; he appeared to be unconscious, badly bruised and bleeding from a cut over one eye, but mostly unhurt. Rumune, however, was missing both of his legs and now had bloody stumps instead. Neither Hanai nor Harima could think of anything to do. The light in Rumune's eyes was fading fast. He was gagging and reaching his hand out at them as if he was to say something, but he only coughed up blood and let it bubble and dribble down his chin. Life faded from Rumune's eyes and his hand dropped like a rock; he was dead. Harima and Hanai stared, they just could process the idea of that Rumune was gone, a man they lived with in a very personal way for four days and trained with for over a month. A ricocheting round that flew past them brought reality crashing back down on them. Without speak to each other, Harima and Hanai both grabbed either arm of the unconscious Shimazu, and dragged him out of the open.

Yamako was trying to get a lock-on with on of the Type-91 SAMs, but the Hinds had him pinned behind the sandbag wall. Yamako then looked south downriver because he could hear a roaring/whining sound he recognized as jet engines decelerating. 'Shit, are they hostile planes?' he wondered. 'Four planes diving in low… wait those are Hornets… they're Americans.'

A flight of F-18E Super Hornets from the USS Enterprise were coming in to provide much needed air support. The flight lead and his wingman fired sidewinders destroying the Hinds. The third and forth Super Hornets dropped cluster bombs ripping the North Korean armor company to shreds and caused the Nakdong Bridge to shudder. The flight of Super Hornets made a second pass with M-61 gatling firing 20mm rounds and dropping CBU-87 Cluster Bombs at the retreating soldiers.

Only an hour and a half had past since the first enemies appeared on the bridge and now the Nakdong Bridge looked like no man's land with all the destroyed and disabled tanks, APCs, and dead infantry. Burning and smoking debris only help complete the image of hell.

Asou was trying to locate his men; he'd lost track of them during the third attack. Soon he'd found his men. They'd gathered around Kaoji who'd been coordinating with the US Navel Air Force for support. There was someone under a blood stained blanket. Slowly Asou lifted one end of the blanket and felt his stomach clench.

"What did this?" asked Asou.

"The Hinds got him, sir," croaked Hanai who looked like he was still in shock. Harima only managed to nod and kept his mouth firmly shut, as though if he opened it he would be sick.

"Okay… well we don't have time to worry about him… I know that may sound heartless, but we need to concentrate on our current situation… they'll be back probably first thing in the morning," Asou said looking around at his men. They nodded to show they understood.

They did they best to reform the line, but it didn't change the fact that the last attack had hit hard. Only 62 of the 95 soldiers were felt; Dogwood with 44 soldiers and Echo with 18.

Hours pasted, but the forth attack didn't come. Night was falling and they began to scrounge for food. Captain Nara said he'd believe the enemy was regrouping for a dawn assault. Taking little comfort in that, 5th squad settled down for the night. Harima wandered off the Battalion HQ to check on Mai before clocking out with his squad.

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**0645 Hours; May 21****st****, 2010; the Nakdong Bridge; Pusan, Republic of Korea**

Harima woke up early the next morning. He was cold, but he was told that Korea was cold during the early spring, autumn, and winter; in other words, Korea was cold all the time except summer when it was burning hot. The first thing that came to his mind was that his feet were cold; the second thing that came to his mind was something was wrong. The ground was shaking and a rumbling roar with a metallic clanking/creaking was coming from the west side of the Nakdong Bridge. Not a good sign.

"Haruki!" Harima shouted into Hanai's ear.

"YAHH! ... Kenji what the fuck is…?" he started, but froze when he heard the noise; Hanai nodded to show he understood and he leaped up to grab his rifle.

Cries to get to everyone's posts were being yelled by soldiers as they realized they were under attack.

T-62s, BMP-2s, and BTR-80s were slowly creeping across the bridge. This time there was no sign of infantry; only armor and APCs. Smoke grenades helped conceal they lines from the North Koreans like before.

"Get me Lt. General Connors!" shouted Captain Nara at Kaoji. Kaoji twirled a few dials to connect to the acting NATO field commander of the Korean Theater.

Kaoji handed the receiver to Captain Nara who spoke into it in English, "Lt. General Connors, this is Captain Tsubaki Nara of the 6th Japanese Division. I request permission to blow the Nakdong Bridge."

There was a pause and then a raspy voice asked, "Captain, is it possible to hold that bridge for a little longer? If you blow it, the Commies will just go around, but if you hold you can delay them longer."

Captain Nara considered this request before answering, "I can hold for ten, maybe fifth-teen minutes, sir."

"Rodger, hold as long as you can before blowing the bridge. Over and out."

The situation was getting bad after five minutes. They were low on AT rounds and hostile armor seemed to just come endlessly from the smoke shield.

They were firing their rifle uselessly at the tanks, accomplishing nothing, but distracting the tanks and drawing much unwanted attention the 100mm cannons the T-54 packed.

Harima was out of AT rockets; so was Hanai. Kaoji was desperately trying to get any form of outside support. Kitsumori was running low on ammo for his FN Minimi; the others were suffering similar problems. Shimazu was attaching the second wire to the detonator and was preparing to destroy the bridge.

Asou holstered his rifle after handing his last clip to Yamako to use. He drew out his Sig P-226 and fired 9x19mm parabellums at an advancing T-62. On Asou's eighth shot the T-62 exploded; he stared down at his pistol for a few second wondering what ammo he was using. Common sense catching up to him he looked around and saw four Japanese Type 90 heavy tanks and five Type 89 IFVs.

"Who hell are they?!" shouted Asou.

"Don't know, but they're our new best friends now," said Kitsumori as he loaded his last belt into his FN Minimi.

"That's Hollow Company; 28th Armor Battalion," said Kaoji. In deed, it was Company H of the Japanese 28th Armor Battalion of the same regiment as them. The 28th had been holding a bridge downriver, but after blowing the bridge Hollow Company came to support the 27th Infantry Battalion.

Harima and Hanai scrambled out of the way of the lead tank of Hollow Company. They waved their helmets, cheered, and shouted for joy at the female captain who was directing her company. Harima and Hanai had to cover their ears when the Type 90 fired its 120mm cannon at a retreating T-62; the T-62 disappeared in rush of flame and shattering metal.

The PKA were treating for the forth time. Captain Nara and 1st Lieutenant Zakito climbed onto the lead tank and spoke to Hollow Company's CO.

"Captain Matsuyashi Soko?" he asked speaking over the roar of the engine.

"Hai," she said in a generic military monotone tone.

"I'm Captain Nara Tsubaki and this is my second in command 1st Lieutenant Zakito Karin, we really appreciate the help," he said hold out his hand; Captain Matsuyashi shook his hand and 1st Lieutenant Zakito's too in turn.

"Captain Nara, I have orders to tell you to fall back to Seo-Go district and set up a new perimeter deeper in Pusan and closer to the harbor to defend the evac zones. We're going to be evacuated soon too," she said handing a folded memo to Captain Nara. He read it quickly and nodded.

Soon he ordered Shimazu to blow up the Nakdong Bridge and for them to gather their gear and fall back the Seo-Go district where they could board ships back home.

Harima, Hanai, Kitsumori, Asou, Kaoji, and Yamako watched as blasts rang out from the bridge's legs. I-beams fell dramatically into the Nakdonggang. The screeching noise of metal on metal sent shivers down their spines. The Nakdong Bridge wobbled and shuttered for what seemed like forever until it fell into the Nakdonggang River below.

They placed Rumune into a body bag and placed his body on an M939 truck for KIAs (Killed in Action). They packed up the HMMWV. Harima and Hanai went into the station to get Mai; by this time 5th squad had an unspoken agreement to personally take her back to Japan if it was the last thing they did. Mai looked around when she saw they were leaving without Rumune, however she asked no questions; she seemed to gather what his fate must have been.

Harima pulled into pace with the 27th Infantry Battalion's HMMWVs, M939 duce-and-a-halfs, Type 73 APCs, Type 87 Recon/Patrol Armored Car, and Type 82 command vehicles. Joining them was Hollow Company's Type 90s heavy tanks, Type 89 IFVs, Type 73 APCs, Type 74 medium tanks, and a couple of Type 87 AA-vehicles. They were heading for what they hoped was eventually a pathway home.

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Hope ya'll enjoyed this chapter, or at least finished reading it. I know it may have been a bit depressing, but what can I say? Just give a review if you can, which I know ya'll are capable of doing.

Updated January 9, 2008: This was a fairly long chapter. It was mostly difficult to in cleaning up.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. Soviet bullets use green tracer round, NATO uses red tracer round. Traditionally, every third or fifth round is a tracer. Since an assault rifle or sub-machine gun normally only has a 30 round clip they would likely have a tracer every third round. One machine guns, gatling guns, or auto-cannons like the ones on the M2A2 Bradley, BMP-2, or ZSU-57-2 would probably have a tracer every fifth round.


	9. Chapter 9: The Chinese Juggernaut

Next chapter is up and ready to go. To follow Seinaru advice I am going to leave a number in the text to represent a note in the appendix in my notes at the end; also a special thank you to Seinaru for taking the time to review my story. Thanks for still reading and please review. I don't own School Rumble.

Updated January 10, 2008: Well here is the new and improved (hopefully) chapter 9.

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**Chapter 9: The Chinese Juggernaut**

"Whoever said the pen is mightier than the pen sword

Obviously never encountered automatic weapons"

Unknown, listed as one of Murphy's Laws of Combat

**0750 Hours; May 24****th****, 2010; Seo-Go District; Pusan, Republic of (South) Korea**

It had been three days since the Nakdong Bridge had been destroyed. Once again, 5th squad was reduced to not knowing what the hell was going on besides the fact they were holding some position, probably facing a heavily armed enemy force, and were mostly alone and outnumbered. The big nagging question was when the enemy was coming and who were they.

What little of Dogwood and Echo Company along with German and American soldiers were holding an area on the edge of a university campus. Dogwood was a block down with Hollow Company and US GIs of the US 23rd Infantry Regiment. The sad remainder of Echo Company was holding an intersection that had an electronics store parking lot and a five story office building on one side and the college campus on the other side. Joining them was Hound Company of the German 11th Fallschirmjäger Regiment. An American commando team was to join them soon, or so said command.

The Germans had set up MG-3 light machine guns mounted on tripods in the office building and on the street behind sandbags and parked cars. Asou was admiring how organized and disciplined they were; they seemed to know what they were doing… or at least more than he did. Asou and his men also noticed that the H&K G-36E the Bundeswehr used seemed to be superior to the Type 89 assault rifle they used. Although it was comforting to have more experienced soldiers supporting them, it had the drawbacks, such as the Germans couldn't speak any Japanese and vise versa.

Harima and Hanai watched the skies from a crater in the parking lot they were using as a foxhole. For days NATO planes had been bombing Pusan and dogfighting with KPAF (Korean People's Air Force) and PLAF (People's Liberation Air Force) MiG-21s and J-7s (1). During the nights green and red tracer rounds from AA emplacements lit up the skies like fireworks.

The roar of approaching planes was heard all around, but by this time most everyone could recognize the difference between NATO and Communist engine noises; the approaching plane was a NATO one. A British RNAF (Royal Navel Air Force) AV-8 Harrier flew over towards the sea, smoking slightly from a hole in the wing. Above, US MacDonnell-Douglas F-15E Strike Eagles were flying north to bomb the advancing Communist regiments.

Across the street was a small group soldiers, advancing on their position. Everyone raised their weapons, ready to fire. One of the unknown soldiers raised a rifle in the air with one hand to signal he was friendly. When they got closer they were discernible as Americans. They were about 24 of them moving in 5 groups of 4. One team moved across the street while the others covered them, one the first team was across the others followed one at a time, and soon they were in the bomb craters, sandbags, and abandoned cars the Echo Company was using as fortifications.

They had a green triangle insignia with a smaller gold triangle inside the first and a white sword pointing straight up in the center. The word 'Airborne' was printed in gold letters above the green triangle insignia. The Americans were carrying M-16A5 assault rifles, Colt M4A1 carbines, some had M203 grenade launchers, M-14E2s with a full-auto and semi-auto fire select modes, Mossberg 500 pump-action shotguns, H&K MP-5, H&K UMP-45s, M-24 sniper rifles, SR-25 sniper rifles, M60E3 light machine guns, and AT4s. They had modified their uniforms and gear to meet their specific needs in battle much better than a standard uniform. The uniform itself was a green digital camouflage.

The leader had his rifle pointed towards the skies in his right hand and was directing his soldiers with his left. He was a young Asian male, short neat black hair with the bangs pushed up a little on the front and to the side, and dark brown eyes. He was a little shorter and a lot thinner than Harima and Hanai, but seemed to be a lot more experienced than anyone in 5th squad judging by the way he moved and scanned the area constantly for danger. He had two parallel scars on his left check and a shorter, but deeper one on his neck He had an M-16 that seemed to be modified from the standard M-16A4, an M1911A1 in a holster over his tunic, and a Winchester 1300 slung over his back. On his uniform was a silver oak leaf which appeared to his rank insignia.

He turned to face Asou and asked, "You speak English?"

When Asou didn't respond the Amercain asked in Japanese, "I assume you speak Japanese."

"Hai, I am Sergeant Asou Hiroyashi," said Asou holding out his hand.

The American shook his hand and introduced himself, "I am Lt. Colonel Shinhachi Jack, commander of the 15 assault platoon of Task Force Delta; SOCOM (Special Operation Command). I've got orders to help out here and shore up some of the under strength units."

"Arigato, sir."

"Who's in charge here?"

"Uh… you are sir."

Lt. Colonel Shinhachi stared at Asou for a few seconds, dumbfounded. He shook his head and muttered what Asou thought were curse words in English. He then turned to a man about the say age as him and yelled, "Jason! Get your ass over here!"

A man with two silver bars on his shoulders strolled over. He was about the same age as Shinhachi and a half inch shorter than Lt. Colonel Shinhachi. He also looked European, had grey eyes, and light brown hair. He looked more powerfully built than Shinhachi and had a bored expression on his face; he also had a triangle sharp scar on his left check. He had an H&K MP-7 SMG at his side in the place of a pistol and a Berrett M82A1 .50 caliber sniper rifle slung over his back.

"This is my second in command, Captain Maiwald Jason, he speaks Japanese. So explain the situation to us," he ordered Asou. Asou explain to which Shinhachi and Maiwald scowled as they heard how bad the situation was.

15 minutes later Asou, the German CO Hauptmann (captain) Karl Walddorf and his officers, and Lt. Colonel Shinhachi were assembled inside the electronics store. Shinhachi drew a rough map of the college campus, the office building, the parking lot and store, and the intersection on a piece of paper.

"We are here at the store which we will call point Able and the office building which was will call point Bravo. The enemy will come from across the campus field which we will call point Cat," said Shinhachi pointing to different points on the map; he paused to allow Kaoji and a German NCO to translate his speech into the respective languages. "The enemy will be Chinese. They will likely attack with a light scout group first, get a feel for our strength, then shell us to oblivion, and follow up with an attack of armor.

These college buildings here will give snipers a prime shooter's spots and we should pay close attention to them. There are hills several miles north of us which could provide the PLA with positions for the self-propelled artillery, so I'll have the air force take care of them if they do come. Speaking of the air force, we'll have a shit load of firepower to support us so don't be afraid to call them."

"My superior wants to know what support we'll have," said the translating German NCO.

Shinhachi nodded and said, "We'll have napalm, cluster bombs, mavericks, hellfires, A-10 Thunderbolt's 30mm fire, F-15E Strike Eagles, B-52s carpet bombing runs, daisy cutters, and since we're in SOCOM we can get AC-130U Spectre gunships for support. Also we can get support from the navy or the battery corps."

"Daisy cutters, sir?" asked Kaoji.

"It's a 17,000 pound bomb that's dropped from a C-130 like a they would with a HMMWV or supplies. It was made during Vietnam to clear large forested areas and annihilate infantry. It's our equivalent of the Soviet's fuel bomb," explained Shinhachi.

"And this support will be available to us all?" asked the German NCO.

"Yes, but for convinces sake, I'll handle the support," said Shinhachi. "If that is all, I want you to dig in and dig in deep. We'll only have to hold until tomorrow and then we'll be extracted from Korea too."

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**1504 Hours; May 24****th****, 2010; Gae-So District; Pusan, South Korea**

At about 1500 hours a small group of Norinco FAVs and YW-531 APCs were cautiously advancing down the hill to the crossroads spread out in a line. The first thing that struck Asou was that they weren't North Koreans; they were Chinese. They second thing that he noticed was that the Chinese weren't as reckless as the North Koreans and they appeared to be better armed. Looking through binoculars, he could see they the infantry were armed with Type-95 bullpump assault rifles, QBB-85 light machine guns, PF-97 anti-tank rocket launchers, Type-85 sub-machine guns, and QSZ-92 handguns; pretty well armed indeed.

On the roof of the electronics store's roof, hidden by the big letters of the store's sign was Captain Maiwald who was lining up a PLA officer in his sites. "Jack, I've got a hostile collar in my sites."

Lt. Colonel Shinhachi who was looking through a laser dot scope on his M-16A5 CS (2) spoke coldly into his helmet mounted headset, "Drop him."

Captain Maiwald fired a NATO 12.7x99mm anti-material cartridge from his Berrett M82A1A, literally blowing the Chinese officer's head in half. The Chinese officer dropped to his knees while his subordinates stared in shock and horror. They didn't stare for long though, they reacted quickly and fired short bursts in wild directions.

"Don't shoot," said one of the Americans in broken Japanese to Harima and Hanai, "they're looking for a reaction. They don't know that anyone's here… other than one sniper." Almost as soon as the shooting started, it ceased. Harima peeked over the top of the crater/foxhole and saw the PLA soldiers poised in fighting positions; ready for a counter-attack.

A second shot from Captain Maiwald's rifle echoed across the area and a Chinese radioman keeled over; shot through the chest killing him and destroying his radio. 'Perfect,' thought Captain Maiwald, 'now if I can eliminate the other radiomen I can stop them from calling in fire support.'

A distant sound like rolling thunder boomed out from miles away.

"Fuck," cursed the American soldier next to Harima and Hanai. He turned and said to them, "That's the sound of PLA howitzers. We have incoming."

Almost the second he said that, a terrifying roaring screech of impending death was approaching their location on the crossroads; the noise was getting so loud that it made it seem like the air was shaking. Everyone buried their faces into the ground and covered the back of their heads and necks with their hands. The earth around them shook and shuddered as 155mm shells pounded the crossroads.

Inside a crater by the entrance of the store was Lt. Colonel Shinhachi calling in fire support. A young Korean girl with her hair pulled into an Asian style braided pony tail crawled into the foxhole to avoid flying shrapnel. "Excuse me, Lt. Colonel."

Shinhachi turned to face the young girl in surprise, "Who are you and want to do want?"

"My name is Mai Li, sir and I think I know where those SPs are."

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**1524 Hours; May 24****th****, 2010; 28km north of the Sae-Go; Pusan, South Korea**

"This is Shadow 1-1, ETA to target zone is 70 seconds," said a RAF Tornado GR.4 pilot.

As he approached an urban neighborhood on some of the higher hills in Pusan he saw puffs of smoke and muzzle flashes from firing artillery. A company of Chinese PLZ-45 self-propelled artillery was pounding away at the NATO soldiers who had called in for their support.

"Shadow 1-2, 1-3, and 1-4, this is Shadow 1-1. We have hostile arty straight ahead. Engage at will."

The PLZ-45s began to slowly attempt to escape the incoming fighter-bombers, but to no avail. The British Tornados unleashed a hail of bomblits from the bomblit dispensers mounted underneath their fuselages. PLA soldiers and artillery crew ran in a desperate attempt to escape the wave of fire.

"Roanoke leader, this is Shadow 1-1. We have annihilated PLA arty over and out."

At the crossroads, Lt. Colonel Shinhachi responded, "Thank you Shadow 1-1, this is Roanoke leader, over and out. And thank you too young miss." He said to Mai.

As the last of the shells fell, a Japanese soldier peeked out from behind a car where Yamako was sheltering himself. He looked around for a few second.

"See anything?" asked Yamako. The soldier turned to answer him, there was a metallic snapping noise, and the soldier collapsed with blood squiring out of a signal bullet hole in his head. "Shit! SNIPER, EVERYONE DOWN!" shouted Yamako.

Captain Maiwald heard Yamako and searched the college building that had the best vantage points. He found what he was looking for, a window that had been busted out. There was a soldier with a rifle in that window. Maiwald read the readout in his crosshairs that told him distance via a laser range finder. His finger tensed on the trigger, but he paused; something wasn't right. He removed his x12 zoom scope and placed a x16 scope with on that had pulled from his tac-vest.

'Clever bastard,' he thought when he saw that the sniper was a helmet on a hat stand with a coat round it and a broom on the window sill; it was a trap to get Maiwald to reveal his own position first. He searched the building for a place where a sniper could best see if someone took the bait. Maiwald saw it, a sniper with an AMR-2 12.7x108mm bolt action sniper rifle hiding in the shadow of a storage shed.

'Clever bastard indeed, but that position leaves him too exposed from incoming fire,' Maiwald though as he fired a shot right through the scope of the Chinese sniper, into his eye, through his head, and killing him.

The Chinese APCs, FAVs, and infantry were still out in the middle of the field of the college campus, waiting for something. What they were waiting for became very clear when seven Type 69s and four Type 80s made their slow, but imposing way towards their allies. The armor barreled slowly, but steadily. It made some of the Americans uncomfortable to see the same types of tanks that literally ran over protesters at Tiananmen Square.

The Type 69s opened fire on the parking lot and electronics store. Captain Maiwald shielded his head as the store's sign was shattered by a 100mm shell that fortunately didn't explode.

"This is Roanoke leader, I'm requesting anti-tank and anti-personal support, over," said Shinhachi into a radio.

Harima and Hanai were shooting their rifles at the PLA infantry who were now advancing under the support of their tanks. They had to keep ducking down because the Chinese were returning fire with great accuracy.

"Shit! These guys are good!" Harima shouted to Hanai over the Chinese 5.8x42mm rounds pounding at the sandbags they had placed around the crater for additional protection.

"Yeah, they are and I'm starting to think they don't like us," Hanai said. Harima grinned at the joke, then popped over the top of the sandbags and fired off a full-auto burst at a Chinese squad dodged his shots and returned fire.

"I didn't think you were capable of making a real joke," said Harima.

"Yeah, well I'm learning a lot things these days."

'They are good,' thought Hanai, 'Chinese are defiantly much stronger than the North Koreans we've been fighting.'

Shimazu who was with Asou was shooting his M4A1 carbine at the advancing PLA soldiers. He saw that one officer was pointing and trying to warn his men of something. Shimazu slowly looked to his right and saw twelve F-15E Strike Eagles descending for a strafing run. A payload of napalm incinerated the infantry and created an impassable wall of fire, trapping the Chinese infantry in the path of a load of CBU-87 cluster bombs.

Some of the Chinese Type 80s survived the first attack of cluster bombs, didn't survive the second wave. Tank crew along with surviving infantry attempted to run around the wall of fire, but most were cut to shreds by German machine gunners. After the few PLA soldiers escape and the only sounds were the roaring flames of the napalm.

'They'll be back,' Shinhachi.

At 1900 hours, the Chinese pressed another attack. No body could see them yet, but by the way the ground was shaking they knew it was armor and probably heavy armor.

"This is Roanoke leader, requesting AT support, over," Shinhachi spoke into a radio.

"Oh fuck," Harima spoke hoarsely as he saw PLA Type 99s heavy tanks, Type 90s APCs, Type 80s medium tanks, and Type 95 AA-vehicles (3). Heavily infantry were also moving with the armor; they were setting up Type 73 towed AT guns, W-99 mortars, and QJZ-89 heavy machine guns in the campus.

Red and green tracers zoomed back and forth across the intersection. While AT and TOW rockets flew from the Japanese, American, and German side, 125mm and 100mm tank shell, 82mm mortars, and 93mm anti-tank rockets came from the Chinese side. Clearly the PLA had a greater volume of fire power.

Harima and Hanai and the American with them, couldn't peek over the top of the foxhole because the Chinese had them completely pinned.

Two A-10 Thunderbolt IIs came for a tank busting run. "Shit, I don't think they're going to make it past the AAs," said a soldier.

"Betty Blue 2-1, this is Roanoke leader. They've got Type 95 AAs, abort now! Abort now!"

The lead plane broke off his approach dropping counter-measurers and hitting full afterburners to escape. The second plane dropped counter-measurers to stop a SAM from hitting him, but the flares proved useless against 35mm auto-cannon which clipped his wings. The pilot never had a chance to bail out, his plane disappeared from sight, but they could hear the crash.

"Bastards, I'd hate to destroy a perfectly good college, but…" Shinhachi said to himself. He turned to his radio man again who handed his the transmitter yet again. "This is Roanoke leader, requesting daisy cutters on previously established coordinates Cat, over."

Shells were raining down on them. The mortars were proving to be highly effective against the open foxholes and slit trenches. In addition to being deadly, the mortars made a heart stopping shrieking moan as they made they're way downwards.

Asou loaded a fresh clip into his rifle. He heard the sound of prop engines from high above. Looking up he saw four C-130 Hercules transports. Suddenly, each plane dropped two large objects with parachutes attached to them. Asou notice that the objects were going to land on the Chinese position, which confused him as to why their own planes would drop supplies towards the enemy. After a few seconds, Asou noticed that the objects looked like huge bombs. 'Are those the daisy cutters I was told about?' wondered Asou. 'I wonder how powerful they are.'

In a few seconds Asou's question was answered as first daisy cutter hit dead center on the PLA battalion. A massive mushroom shape cloud of fire loomed over the area. For one moment Asou thought that a nuclear bomb had been dropped, but common sense told him that they'd be dead too if it were a nuke. The blast shook the earth and the shockwave shattered the all the windows in the area.

"Did they survive?" asked Asou a female American soldier next to him.

She shook her head, "Even if they were in tanks or building they would suffocate when all they air was sucked out to fuel the blast. That's how thermobaric weapons (4) work; they can be so deadly them some call them the conventional nuke."

It was difficult to see anything because the heat from the daisy clusters had created a lot of haze and smoke, but it was clear the Chinese battalion had been incinerated.

By 2100 hours it was obvious that the Chinese weren't going to mount another attack for the night. There were still fires burning in and around the college campus from the air support. Miles above J-10s and J-11s against F-15Cs, EF-2000As, and F-18Es were engaging each other in a vicious waltz of survival in the night's sky. As for 5th squad, they were scrounging for food. Mai was quietly reading Card Captor Sakura volume IV, Yamako and Shimazu were heating Ready to Eat Meals (REM) for everyone, and the others were going an eye out for Chinese soldiers; though it was hard to see since it was night.

"Uh… food is sorta' ready," said Shimazu. They stared at the REMs with skepticism, but seeing no alternative they ate. Harima seemed to be the only one who truly enjoyed the REMs.

"You can stomach anything, can't you Harima-sempai?" asked Mai.

"When you live with Itoko, you learn to eat anything served to you," Harima said seriously. Some of the men laughed, but Kitsumori knew what Harima was talking about and didn't even smile, but nodded darkly.

Under the light of a few red flashlights was Lt. Colonel Shinhachi and Captain Maiwald were discussing what tomorrow will bring.

"The Marines will provide us with evac," said Shinhachi.

"Oh god, not Uncle Sam's Misguided Children(5)," Maiwald jokingly, Shinhachi smiled slightly.

"Anyways, the PLA isn't finished. They know we aren't staying and we're pulling out, so they'll probably try and cut us off," Shinhachi said, his smile dying and being replaced with a stoic expression with touches of wariness.

Maiwald nodded, "I think we were real lucking we weren't overrun today."

"Yeah, we were," said Shinhachi looking up at skies watching the dogfights in the skies.

"… it's not tomorrow we need to worry about see… but rather the day after tomorrow," stated Shinhachi.

* * *

So end another chapter. I sure I me spelling errors, but I can't seem to find them all. In time however I'll try to fix them all. For I hope ya'll enjoy this installment to my story. Please review.

Updated January 10, 2008: Damn, I hate proof reading. I'm sure I'm still missing a lot of errors in the story. I'm about half way done… so maybe I can get back to writing chapter 31 by the end of the weekend.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. The MiG-21 Fishbed is the most common fighter plane in the world. The J-7 is a Chinese version of the Fishbed.

2. CS means customized, suggesting something is modified from its original form.

3. The Type 95 is a self-propelled anti-air gun that was four 25mm and four QW-2 SAM launchers. It's not something you want to fight in a chopper or slow flying plane.

4. Thermobaric weapons are weapons that create a cloud vapor or dust of explosives or flammable liquids. It is then ignited. The explosion uses oxygen in the air to sustain the blast and creates a massive explosion and shockwave. People on kill in the explosion often suffocate because the bomb uses up the gases in the air that we breathe. Thermobaric weapons include the daisy cutter and the fuel bomb. Russia is a leading nation in this technology.

5. The United States Marine Corp initials are USMC. During the Vietnam War, people took the initials and created one of many Marine nicknames Uncles Sam's Misguided Children.


	10. Chapter 10: The Nightmare Expands

Hi ya'll. Thanks for still reading. I don't own School Rumble.

Updated January 10, 2008: Well here is the improved version of this chapter. Sorry about all this again. Just another 7 chapters to be edited this one.

* * *

**Chapter 10: Bid for Freedom**

"If liberty means anything

It's the right to tell people what we don't want to hear"

Eric Arthur Blair, commonly know by his pen name George Orwell

**0430 Hours; May 25****th****, 2010; Sae-Go District; Pusan, Republic of Korea**

"Roanoke leader, this is Division HQ. Hollow and Dogwood Companies are withdrawing on your left and Foxglove and Guardian Companies are withdrawing on right, over."

"Rodger, Echo, Roanoke, and Hound Companies are outbound, Roanoke leader out," said Lt. Colonel Shinhachi into the radio.

It was 0458 hours and the sun hadn't risen yet, but they were getting ready to be on the move. The evacuation fleet had been withdrawing the last of the refugees and NATO soldiers during the night and finally they and the NATO troops were going to be taken out of Pusan.

"Lt. Colonel Shinhachi says that the USMC will provide hovercraft, amphibious vehicles, and choppers to extract us from the harbor," said Asou to his squad and Mai. "He also expects that the Chinese may have maneuvered troops in between the EZ (extraction zone) and our current position, so I need you all ready to fight."

Hanai, Kitsumori, Harima, Yamako, Shimazu, Kaoji, and Mai nodded and started to pack up their belongings. Soon everyone was moving in two columns with Roanoke platoon and Echo Company on the left side of the street and Hound Company on the right side.

Behind them they could hear Chinese artillery and in front the US Navy's gun and missile fire. The roar of a jet engine made them drop to their stomach. Looking up it was PLAF J-10, fuselage smoking; it crashed several blocks area and a fireball rose from the point of impact. Getting to their feet they continued their silent, but rapid retreat to the harbor.

As they approach an intersection a loud echoing shot rang out and a Japanese soldier dropped to the ground; a bullet hole in his head.

"Sniper!"

"Cover!"

"Where is he?!"

Confused yells revolved around the street. Kaoji looked around and saw on the opposite left side of the intersection was a bank. On the roof was a man in the prone position. "The bank! He's on the bank roof!"

The Germen paratroopers on the right side of the street started to shoot when a machine gun opened up from a third floor apartment building on the opposite right of the intersection. The Japanese, Americans, and Germans used cars, mailboxes, newspaper dispensers, doorways, and even trashcans for cover, but there was no denying they were exposed with very little protection.

Captain Maiwald shot the MG gunners, but he was immediately replaced with an assistant gunner. "It's no good! They've got multiple gunners; get a rocket on that MG!"

"On it sir!" responded an American soldier with an AT4. He fired and sent three Chinese soldiers flying from MG nest in the third floor apartment to the street below. At the same time, the volume of fire from the bank increased as riflemen and light machine gunners fired from the second story and ground floor of the bank.

"Cover my squad! We're going in!" shouted Asou. Riflemen from Echo Company laid down covering fire while 5th squad moved up to a bus on the street corner. They crept around it and made a mad dash across the street for the cars there. Once again that slow motion feeling swept over them as green tracers flew past them. In that moment, it hit all of them how vulnerable they were to death. Asou slammed his back against a parked car breathing hard. Checked himself and then his squad, but no one seemed to be hurt.

"Frag 'em out!" yelled Asou pulling an M67 frag grenade off his tac-vest. They all threw M67s over the cars and into the bank windows on the ground floor. A series of blasts, flying shrapnel, screams, and flecks of blood came from the bank as the grenades went off.

Asou, Harima, Hanai, Kaoji, and Yamako switched the fire select mode to full-auto. Shimazu pulled out his Remington 870 pump-action shotgun. Kitsumori tossed the strap of his gun over his soldier so his FN Minimi was easier to handle when running.

"GO!" roared Asou as loud as he could. They stormed the bank; everything became confused in the frenzy of shooting and smoke. As the smoke cleared something was very wrong. A number of the people in the room weren't wearing a Chinese uniform or any military uniform; there were Korean civilians mixed in with Chinese soldiers. They were blindfolded and gagged. They froze; they were completely numb with shock.

"What the fuck?" said a voice in English. Captain Maiwald was standing in the doorway staring at the carnage.

"Come on," he said gently, "we have to keep moving. This wasn't really your fault. It's not like ya'll knew these people were here."

5th squad slowly left the scene looking over their shoulders. After dealing with the wounded they continued for the EZ.

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**0500 Hours; May 25****th****, 2010; the Kremlin, Moscow; Russia, Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic**

Premier Nikolay Bolotnikov was sitting in his office reading a bill to crack down on organize crime hiding out in the Ural Mountains. He had his pen raised ready to sign when the door burst open as numerous KGB and Red Army officers stormed into his office.

"What the hell…?!" Premier Bolotnikov started to shout, but froze when he saw the paleness of their faces and panic in their eyes.

"What happened?" he asked in a shaky voice.

"Uh… Comrade Premier… Lt. General Joseph Penovaski, an officer assigned to Vladivostok… has… um…" an officer tried to say.

"He deserted his post at Vladivostok, taking his entire division with him," a KGB colonel finished.

The pen Bolotnikov was holding fell to the ground; he stared at the officers before him as though they had just struck him across the face. "Ya… you mean to te… tell me that the entire 43rd Armor Division, along with their artillery and helicopter units has deserted?" he asked feebly.

"And 23rd and 50th air regiments, and 3rd airborne regiment," concluded a Red Air Force brigadier general.

"I see… AND WHAT IN GOD'S NAME ARE YOU PEOPLE DOING!?!" Bolotnikov roared.

"Um… we are asking you for what to do Comrade Premier. Also we have this for you," said a KBG Lt. General handing a disk to Bolotnikov. Bolotnikov placed the disk in a laptop on the right side of his desk.

A window popped up and asked if he wanted to play an audio recording on the disk. He chose yes and listen, "Comrades of the glorious Red Army of the great Motherland. Our leaders chose to ignore an opportunity to strike down our Capitalists enemies. We shall do what our leaders have failed to do for years. Today we change the Motherland for the good of our comrades, our motherland, our pride, our hopes, and the world."

Premier Bolotnikov stopped the recording; he had a good idea of what the rest would say; he understood the politics of his nation well and the lies they told to gain support. He leaned towards a drawer and pulled out an official looking document. He signed his name on it and handed it to a KGB general. "This is my written permission to kill ex-Lt. General Joseph Penovaski by whatever means necessary."

"I understand Comrade Premier," saluted the KGB officers. They left the room immediately to plan the assassination of Lt. General Penovaski.

Bolotnikov placed his face in his hands and signed. He looked up at the military officers and asked, "Major General Trokov, where is your division?"

Major General Victor Trokov is tall blond hair man in his mid 40s. He snapped to attention and said, "I have a regiment in reserve near Chechnya, a brigade stationed at Warsaw, and another four brigades conducting drills at our training grounds around the White Sea."

"You are to move your division to Vladivostok. You are to be reassigned to Comrade General Polikov. You should tell your men to be prepared to engage deserters," said Bolotnikov. "Also, they may want to be prepared to engage the Chinese and North Koreans."

"Comrade Premier, what are you going to do?"

"I am going to ask for a meeting with NATO leaders at Stockholm and inform them of the situation."

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**0645 Hours; May 25****th****, 2010; the harbor district; Pusan, Republic of Korea**

USMC AAV7A1 amphibious assault vehicles, SH-60 sea hawks, CH-53E Super Stallions, and SH-46 Sea Knight were shipping and airlifting infantry to waiting Wasp class amphibious assault ships off shore. Super Stallions and hovercrafts were transporting the vehicles and tanks to the ships as well. A group of AH-1Z Super Cobras were patrolling the area and fighter planes were flying air cover.

5th squad was sitting slumped against a couple of shipping containers while Mai tried to convince them that they couldn't have known that there were civilians in the bank, but to no avail.

"Common guys, you didn't know," she said.

No response.

"Guys, you know it wasn't your fault."

No response.

"Damn it, I'm a Korean and I not blaming you!" she shouted.

"… it's hard to take in… can you give us a moment," mumbled Kitsumori.

"Okay, but our ride is here," she said pointing to a grey CH-46 Sea Knight with the word 'Marines' written in black on the waist of the aircraft. They staggered over to Sea Knight with the rest of Echo Company. A marine flight engineer was speaking greetings in extremely poor Japanese.

"Trust me, stick with your own language," Mai told him; he stared at her, but smiled, nodded, and pulled her into the plane.

Out of the back of the Sea Knight they watched US B-52 Stratofortresses, North Korean Tu-95 Bears, and PLAF H-6s bombing various parts of Pusan to oblivion. US cruise missiles and Chinese artillery blasting neighborhoods into the next millennium.

Mai watched her home of ten and a half years burning to the ground; her eyes filled with tears and she continued to watch her homeland for the last time.

"So… this is the end of the Republic of Korea," said Mai realizing that with this retreat, her country was now being fully occupied by the communist and was now probably just the People's Democratic Republic of Korea.

"Don't worry, we'll take good care of you," said Harima patting her on the head.

"Are we allowed to take a civilian we picked up on the street home with us?" asked Yamako.

"No, but I can arrange it," said Lt. Colonel Shinhachi. "I have some connections with the Japanese government. She helped me… and she looks like someone I know."

"Arigato," said Mai.

"Forget it… I don't want to see another little girl get sucked into the system."

The Sea Knight landed on the USS Essex of the Wasp class amphibious assault ships. They walked down the rear ramp of the CH-46 as engines started to shut down. A US Navy female commander and a lieutenant approached them.

They saluted the USN (United States Navy) officers and they returned the salute. The Lieutenant translated for his CO, "My name is Lieutenant Joel Haddon and this is my superior Commander Abigail Hutchinson. She wishes to welcome you to the USS Essex and to inform you that you'll be taken back to a US navel yard at Yokohama."

"Arigato Lieutenant," said Asou, "please tell your CO that we have wounded and would like them treated as soon as possible. We would also like to know what will become of us."

Haddon spoke to Commander Hutchinson. She gave him a response and he translated, "She says to take your wounded to the corpsmen by the flight tower and that you'll get you orders when we arrive at Yokohama. Also if you head below deck to the mess hall you can get yourselves a meal."

"Arigato gozaimasu," Asou said with a salute.

"Iē, zenzen (no, not at all)," Commander Hutchinson said in an attempt to communicate with Asou. Asou smiled at her attempt to speak Japanese, plus it wasn't as bad as the sergeant on the Sea Knight.

They ate quietly in the mess hall with various Japanese, US, German, British, French, Turkish, South Korean, and Canadian soldiers and even a few civilians. 5th squad carefully avoided the South Koreans, the image of the slaughtered civilians fresh in their minds.

The air hung heavy and low. There was no shaking the feeling that they had been defeated in a very real way, driven off the mainland was nothing short of defeat.

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**1900 Hours; May 25****th****, 2010; the Russian Embassy; Stockholm, Kingdom of Sweden**

NATO and Soviet leaders were meeting in Stockholm, capitol of Sweden. Sweden, Norway, and Finland had stayed neutral during the Cold War and due to their convenient proximity to both Capitalist Europe and Communist Europe it became the sight of many peace talks and arms treaties.

"Why is the Soviet Premier asking to meet us at a time like this," asked a French President Francis Marquis.

"I don't know, but he sounded like he was in a panic when I heard from him," said German Chancellor Anne Strömvall.

They were sitting in a conference room in the Russian Embassy of Sweden. Premier Bolotnikov and his ministers entered and sat on the opposite side of the room. "Leaders of NATO members, I have grave news for you."

"Nothing to do with Korea I hope," said British Prime Minister Donald Hackett.

The Russians were silent.

"Oh god, please tell me your not joining the war," Canadian Prime Minister Harold de Lac.

More silence filled the room.

"What happened?" asked US President Michelle Crane.

"A commander in the Red Army deserted his post at Vladivostok, taking his entire division and two air regiments and an airborne regiment with them," said the Soviet Minister of Defense Volya Zeitzev.

This time the NATO members were silent; they were too shocked to speak.

"His name is Lt. General Joseph Penovaski. He commands the 43rd armor division, our Pacific Command main field task force," continued Zeitzev.

"I see… what can you tell us about him," asked Prime Minister de Lac.

Premier Bolotnikov pulled out a document and started to read, "Lt. General Penovaski is a 31 year old commander. He is one of the youngest men in the Red Army to hold his position. He grew up in the northern Caucasus region. We know from the academy records that he was taught by old commanders who lived for the day that we supposedly drove the Capitalists from Europe and Asia…"

"Is he joining the Chinese and North Koreans?!" interrupted Chancellor Strömvall.

"Yes," Premier Bolotnikov said flatly.

"What is his battle strength?" asked President Crane.

Minister of Defense Zeitzev read from another document, "He is armed for a blitzkrieg style of warfare. He is equipped with the new T-95s (1) and T-90 tanks. He has BMP-4s and BMD-3s IFVs. He has T-72 median tanks and PT-76 light/amphibious tanks and BTR-90 APCs. For anti-air he has ZSU-23-4 Shilkas and SA-8 Geckos. For artillery he has 2S7 Pion 203mm SP, 2S4 240mm SP mortar, BM-27 mobile rocket launchers, FROG-7 cruise missile launchers, and M1943 160mm heavy mortars.

For helicopter support he has Mi-24 Hinds, Mi-28 Havocs, and Ka-50 Hokums. Air transports he has the Mi-17 Hips, Mi-26 Halos, An-12 Cubs, and An-124 Condors (2). For fighters he has MiG-29 Fulcrums, MiG-31 Foxhounds, the new MiG-39 Flatpacks, Su-27 Flankers, Su-32 Fullbacks, Su-37 Terminators, and some of the new Su-47 Firkins.

His infantry carry the AKS-74, AN-94 (3), AK-108 (4), Bizon PP-19 sub machine gun, the RPK light machine gun, the RPG-7 and RGP-29, the Dragunov SVD, PMM, and many of the other latest of our nation's weapons."

"In other words, one of the most well equipped divisions in your military has gone rogue and they our probably moving to attack us," said President Crane. "What is your nation doing about it?"

"The KGB is planning to 'eliminate him as a factor' on my orders. Hopefully he'll not be a problem in the next few days. In the mean time marshall law has been declared and I have issued orders to General Polikov, my Pacific commander, to shoot anyone else who even thinks of joining Penovaski," said Bolotnikov. "And if worse comes to worse, we will send a division to destroy his division."

A dubious air fell over the room. The Soviets laid out the basic idea of how they planned to eliminate Penovaski with NATO offering some suggestions. NATO leaders were uncomfortable at the way the Soviets were approaching matters

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**0800 Hours; May 26****th****, 2010; a Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces base, Yokohama; Kanagawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

"Ladies and gentlemen of the Japanese Federal Self-Defense Force, I thank you on behalf of Akihito-Tennō (5) and Aokami-Shushō for your brave and great sacrifices in Korea tp achive our victory in the Korean Peninsula."

5th squad felt that that statement was the biggest pile of bullshit they'd ever heard or ever heard in their entire lives. They knew the feeling of confidence and bravery were gone after the first few seconds of arriving. They knew that when they weren't scared they were either to numb or hyped up on adrenalin to be scared. As for great, the images of innocent people killed by both sides came to mind; they wondered how many people were killed in the fighting. Sacrifices… well they thought about mangled corpses that were once their friends and comrades. Still they had a job to do and they felt a surge of savage pride that they had accomplished their mission and done it despite the artillery barrages, air strikes, and armored assaults. They'd survived it all, that had to count for something and it gave them a savage pride no one, but other veterans like themselves would understand. Also, they now wore the title 'veteran', something few others had.

When the Major General who was speaking shouted banzai for a job well done, they raised their arms and roared banzai three times; not proud of the killing, but proud that they had survived and accomplished their individual goal of living to see home (6).

An hour later, Harima stepped into the shower. He turned on the water and rubbed soap on his arm and was shocked that his arm changed color. Looking at the water he saw the water was red from brick, grey from cinderblocks, black from asphalt, and brown from dirt and mud. He hadn't realized how much grim had caked onto his body.

When he entered locker room, he saw that they all had changed color a little from all of them mud and grim from the battlefield. They changed into fresh uniforms and enjoyed the feelings of being clean for the first time since they landed in Korea.

Exiting the male locker room, they found Mai who had changed in the female locker room. She had brought clean change of cloths in her pack and was wearing long shorts, a light green T-shirt with a Hello Kitty image on it, and a jean jacket.

"Mai," said Asou to her, "Because more than half of our battalion was lost in Pusan, we're being sent back home until we get replacements."

"Am I going with you?" asked Mai hopefully.

"Of course," said Harima ruffling her hair. "Actually we aren't far from Yagami."

"Tomorrow we leave and we'll take you with us. I think we agreed to take you to Harima's cousin's place, right?" asked Hanai.

"Will she be safe their?" asked Kitsumori worriedly.

"Of course, Itoko wouldn't hurt a little girl… I think. I'm sure she'll be willing to take care of her at the least, but we'll have to pay for any expenses," Harima informed them.

They nodded and made plans to put Mai in Yagami Elementary School and other plans for her future. 'It's like having a family again,' Mai thought happily.

* * *

All's well the ends well. Not really. It's far from the end as the Chinese, North Koreans, and Soviet deserters prepare for an invasion of Japan and NATO, the surviving AROK, and the Japanese prepare for the defense of Japan. What will happen to Mai as she is placed in her new home with her new surrogate family? What will happen to Harima when he meets up with Yakumo? What will become of Hanai now that he searches for a woman that will love him? Don't asked me, I haven't written it yet, or have I? Please review.

Updated January 10, 2008: I forgot how much happened in this chapter. Took me a while to straighten it all out, but it's done. I had things to do tonight so the next chapter editing may not come until tomorrow.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. The T-95 is Russia's latest tank. It's similar to the T-90, but it hasn't gone into production yet.

2. Antonov, an aircraft company in Russia that mainly makes utility planes, makes the An-124, codenamed by NATO as the Condor. When it went into production it surpassed the US Lockheed-Martin C-5 Galaxy as the world's largest transport plane that went into production.

3. The AN-94 is a new rifle to replace some older AK-74s in elite Russian units; the AK-74M is still the standard issue rifle with some newer Kalashnikovs entering service. Like all Russian weapons made after 1974 when the AK-74 was made it fires the Soviet 5.45x39mm cartridge.

4. The AK-107 to my knowledge is the latest rifle from Kalashnikov.

5. Tennō means 'Heavenly Sovereignty'. It is the title of the emperor. Emperor Akihito is the actually Emperor of Japan. After World War II the emperor is little more than a figure head just like the Queen of England.

6. The Banzai rally is done by throwing both arms in the air and shouting 'Banzai!' If it is done with weapons then you place it in one hand and raise it with your arms. Traditionally you repeat this three times.


	11. Chapter 11: Alone in the Far East

Well another chapter is up and ready to go. The war is now slipping into a temporary lull as both sides prepare for the invasion of Japan. Let see what becomes of our characters as they try to reconnect with civilian life in the time they have off and what else is going on in the world.

Updated January 11, 2008: I find this chapter a little slow pace personally, but I also like how it showed some of the characters personal lives and see them more as people than as soldiers.

* * *

**Chapter 11: Alone in the Far East**

"Look at old Colonel Jackson staying out there like a stone wall"

A Confederate General at the 1st Battle of Bull Run (1st Battle of Manassas), that is how 'Stonewall' Jackson got his nickname

**0637 Hours; May 27****th****, 2010; Train #06, Sagami River Line; Kanagawa Prefecture, Japanese Federation**

Mutilated corpses of children filled a white room. Men and women lay across tables with there stomachs ripped open, throats slit, and intestines strewn across the room. Screams filled the air and…

Harima woke with a start. He looked around. No dead. No scene of carnage. Just a bunch of people sleeping on a train bound for Uenohara of the Yamanashi Prefecture, but would make a stop at Yagami Station.

Harima went to the back of the passenger car, into the bathroom, and washed his face.

"It… was only a nightmare," he told himself. He'd been having these nightmares since that final day in Korea. Even though it had been only two days since then, it was taking its told. Harima also knew he wasn't alone, the others were having similar problems, but they refused to mention it.

He went to the empty dining car, which was basically a passenger car with a small sushi bar that wasn't open, a deli counter that was serving breakfast, and a group of vending machines lined up at one end of the car. Harima bought a doughnut from the old man working the counter and coffee from a vending machine. He returned to his seat and quietly ate and drank. The sun was just rising on the horizon and Harima was enjoying the quiet. It was new for him; he'd always loved action and noise in the past, but now he wanted peace and quiet.

"Attention passengers," said a voice of the train's PA, "we will be arriving at Yagami Station in 5 minutes. I repeat, we will be arriving at Yagami Station in 5 minutes."

Hanai slowly stirred. "You sleep well Haruki?"

"Not really," he said stretching.

"So what are we going to do?" asked Asou who'd also woken.

"Well, I'm going home to prove to my parents that I'm not dead," said Hanai. "Kenji is taking Mai to his cousin's place. I would take her, but I don't think my parents would be up for the idea."

"Can you blame them?" asked Kitsumori, "what are you gonna say, 'hey mom and dad I'm home, oh and look what I found while I was in Korea' I bet they'll love that."

"Yeah, and I live alone and my place doesn't have room for her," said Asou which wasn't entirely true, but he didn't think he was capable of taking care of a 10 year old and she seemed to be very attached to Harima anyways.

"Which is why we're taking her to my place," said Harima, "as long as we pay for her expenses, Itoko wouldn't care if she was a 25 year old male gun dealer… actually she probably like that."

"Riiight… so I'll be crashing at Harima's place," said Kitsumori.

"Why?" asked Hanai.

"I've got my reasons."

"Come on, after the months of training and then 9 days of fighting you won't tell us? Come on, we're like family," coaxed Asou with a tiny smile.

"Okay," Kitsumori said slowly. He sighed and said, "My parents and I had a big fight the night before I was to be shipped off for training."

"What about?" asked Harima.

"I didn't get into college and they were pissed," he said. "They wouldn't listen when I told them I did my best. I told them if they didn't think I did my best then maybe I won't live with them anymore."

"Any you haven't spoken since?" asked Harima.

"Nope."

"Will you?"

"Maybe… I don't know."

Asou watched his expression, "Okay, you crash at Harima's and think it over. Don't make any decisions yet."

Kitsumori laughed, "Eh, well you got us out alive so I guess I'll just trust you and do that."

"Hai, that's our good old Staff Sergeant," said Hanai.

Asou was surprised. He'd never thought of himself a leader, let along a good leader, but they seemed to think so. It was true that he'd gotten them through the Battle of Pusan and even gotten a promotion to Staff Sergeant, but he still had doubts about their belief in him; after all he ordered them to throw grenades into that bank. Asou didn't say anything though, he didn't want to destroy the little confidence and hope they still had.

"We're here," said Hanai as they arrived in the familiar wooden station that was reminiscent of European architecture.

They grabbed their bags. Kitsumori carried Mai's bag and Harima carried Mai over his back with her arms around his neck.

They said their good-byes and went their separate ways.

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**0722 Hours; May 27****th****, 2010; near the Resident of Asou Hiroyoshi; Yagami, Japan**

Asou headed to the restaurant he used to work at. During his 3rd year at Yagami High School his parents had moved to Osaka, but he rented an apartment above the restaurant so he could stay in the area. He'd sent rent to his old boss, who was a relative of his, so it was still his place.

There it was. The Chinese restaurant he worked at. An image of artillery and mortars shell raining on him cause the word 'Chinese' to send a surge of anger through him. 'Get a grip. It's not like hating everything with the word Chinese or associated with them is going to make me feel better,' Asou rationalized.

He went into the back alley behind the restaurant where a small motor pool was, he walked up a set of steel stairs, pulled out a set of keys, opened his back door, and entered his apartment. He was expecting his place to be hot, stuffy, and dusty, but the place was clean and the air fresh. The mail was even stacked neatly on his kitchen table.

Asou's apartment had two entrances; one being the back alley into the kitchen and the other from a stair that led to the restaurant. He had one big room that was living room and kitchen divided by kitchen table in the middle of the room. The kitchen had a small stove, microwave, sink, dish washer and drier, refrigerator, cabinets, and counters. The living room had a couch, coffee table with a laptop on it, and arm chair, side table with lamp and phone, TV with DVD and cable box on top, a ceiling lamb above, and bookshelf with books, old school books, and DVDs. In another room was a bathroom with shower, and two small bed rooms, one with his printer in it. It was a nice place and being a valued employee and related to the owner helped him get it at a good price, not that the furniture came with the place; he'd bought all that with his own money. He legally owned this space and truly lived on his own.

He looked out his window for a couple of minutes loving the undisturbed peace. He turned to his mail; vaguely he wonder who'd took care of the place for him. His mail included a notice from a college he'd applied to saying he'd missed the deadline for acceptance. A lot of junk mail was also in the pile. Nothing interesting, but then again everyone knew he wouldn't be home to receive mail.

He left his apartment after checking the contents of his refrigerator. He bought himself milk, soda, bread, ramen noodles, white rice, a small packet of neatly cut fish, and other food. He also mailed a few letters to his parents in Osaka and to other family to say he was going to be home for a little while. As he walked home he walked past Yagami High School. He stared at the place for a full hour transfixed.

"It all started there," he said to himself. He walked back to his apartment. He put the groceries in the appropriate places and sat down. He looked at his clock and was surprised it was already 4:30 pm; he didn't realize how long he was out, but did spend a lot of time wandering the streets an noticing how different everything felt. Nothing seemed the same and he hated it, it all felt so foreign and strange like he didn't belong.

Asou heard footsteps and then his front door open. An attractive young, blond girl in a Yagami High School uniform entered Asou's apartment with his mail. Her eyes were bluish-grey and her hair was in a sort of bun/knot and was probably fairly long if she let it down. She placed it on the counter and went to open a window; she hadn't notice Asou sitting at his kitchen table.

He watched the girl open the window before calling out to her, "Sarah-kun, what are you doing?"

"EEEKKK!" she shrieked, she turned and stared in absolute shook at him. "Asou-sempai?! When did you get back?" she asked holding her chest, roughly where her heart was, while trying to calm herself down.

"Gomen (sorry), Sarah-kun. I didn't mean to scare you," he said honestly. "I arrived this morning at about 7:30 am."

She smiled and he returned the smile slightly. "Having you been taking care of my place while I was gone?"

Her eyes widen and she looked down at her feet turning a little red, "Gomen, I thought you'd hate to come back to a dirty, stuffy apartment and…" Her voice trailed off.

"Don't apologize, Sarah-kun," Asou said standing up from his chair, "It was very nice of you."

She blushed a deeper red and smiled, still not meeting his gaze. "Arigato, Asou-sempai."

Asou thought for a moment and then asked, "Why did you? You didn't have to and I can't imagine why you would."

She looked down at her feet again, her face turning redder by the second. "Uh… um… I have my reasons…. So, how was Korea?"

Asou froze. He didn't know how to answer such a question in a way that wouldn't get the message across. Plus he didn't think she would understand. "It… it… was… different," he said slowly.

"I'll bet," she said with an understanding smile that told him she wouldn't pursue the subject. He opened a few more windows and started to leave. "I'll be starting my shift soon downstairs. I'll tell the boss you're back, but I'm sure I can get you the night off, since you did just get home from a war zone."

He felt a surge of gratitude for his former underclassman, "Arigato, Sarah-kun. Stop by for tea sometime before I ship out again, okay?"

"Hai," she said as she left his apartment. He felt very lonely when she left and he decided to make himself diner. As he cooked, he tried to fight the images of civilians killed by his grenades. He needed to think about something else. He looked around his place and noticed that must have worked hard to keep this place clean. Her face appeared clear in his mind and the images of the Battle of Pusan slowly drifted away.

Yagami sure was different… he hated that… but one change he had noticed didn't bother. A curtain someone danced through his thoughts.

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**0750 Hours; May 27****th****, 2010; near The Hanai Family Dojo; Yagami, Japan**

After Hanai had left the station he wandered around for a bit. He passed many stores and streets he'd wandered many times before, but the places seemed different. They felt distant and alien to him as though they were part of another man's life and not his.

After a few hours he approached the dojo he called home. He thought he'd be happier to be home, but this too had the separated feelings.

He entered the dojo. He walked into the training room where many young teenagers were practicing drills. Suddenly, Hanai saw a man out of the corner of his eyes flying at him in a jump-kick. Hanai instinctively grabbed him, threw him, pulled a bayonet from his its sheath in his belt, and was about to slit the man's throat when his senses caught up with him.

"Haruki, you mind getting off you father?" asked Hanai's mother from behind his back.

"Oto-san (father)! Gomen! Gomen!" Hanai apologized while bowing. "You see instinct took over when you attacked me and…"

"It's okay son," he his father pulling Hanai under his arm and showing him off to the class. "Students! This is my son, Hanai Haruki, who has just returned from the front in Korea."

"Really?!"

"What was it like?!"

"Did you nail any Commies?"

"Tell us?"

"Hai! Tell us!"

The students pounded Hanai with questions about the war. He was so overwhelmed, the questions seemed so trivial and stupid plus he was confused by this he couldn't even speak.

"I have to go," he told his father and mother before ducking out of the room, running to the area his family lived in, and barricaded himself in his room. His room was just like he left it; bed, table, bookshelf, computer, printer, small TV with DVD build on it, and desk. He sat with his back against the side of his bed in his room for hours thinking how stupid some of the questions he was asked.

No one bothered him until evening. There was a knock and someone entered.

"Haruki?" asked a familiar voice.

"Konban wa (good evening), Mikoto," he greeted his childhood friend Suō Mikoto.

"You okay?" she asked gently while sitting down next to him.

"… iē, I don't think I am."

"Why?" Mikoto asked surprised by his response.

"It's pretty bad out there."

"There?"

"The war," he said looking her straight in the eyes with a haunted look and a piercing stared that seemed to penetrate her entire body, "they think I'm some kind of hero, but I know better. They have no idea what it's like!" Hanai's voice was steadily growing louder and angrier. Suō decided to let her best friend let out his anger.

"They North Koreans come in endless numbers. They don't care how many men they lose! They Bomb us and anyone in the way!" he raved, he was now on his feet. "Then the Chinese! They are better and more heavily armed then the North Koreans! They pretty fucking smart on top of that! Our leaders and forces are scattered and confuse and/or whipped out! No one prepared us for the chaos or for losing all our officers and nearly the entire company! A fucking 10 year old knew what to do better than us! And as for us we… we…" he slumped on the floor next to her, his rage broken down into fear, depression, and shame.

"What happened, Haruki?" asked Suō, clearly horrified to a person so special to her reduced to this scare man who wanted stability until he regained sense of himself.

He was silent for a while and then he said feebly, "We did a bad thing… we did a very bad thing."

She placed her hand on his and said gently, "It couldn't have been that bad."

He shook his head, "It was and it's been haunting me for the past two days."

"Two days?"

"The last day we were in Korea."

"Oh… you want to tell me about it?"

"Iē (no)."

"What do you want to do?"

He intertwined his fingers with hers and leaded his head against hers, "Can we just sit here? Just for a little while?"

Suō smiled, gave his hand a squeeze, and said, "Take all the time you need."

"Arigato… I'll tell you someday… but not now."

They sat quietly, for quite a long time. Hours in fact.

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**0745 Hours; May 27****th****, 2010; near the Apartment of Osakabe Itoko; Yagami, Japan**

Harima, Kitsumori, and the sleeping Mai made their way to Harima's cousin's apartment. Mai was being carried on Harima's back. They arrived in front of the apartment's door as Mai stirred.

"Ohaiyo (morning), Mai-chan," said Harima as he placed her on her feet and unlocked the door.

"Where are we?" she asked sleepily.

"At Itoko's," said Harima as he opened the door.

"That's Itoko-san," she a cold voice. Harima was shot in the head with a rubber bullet that knocked him off his feet.

"Harima-sempai!" yelped Mai seeing him on the ground. She drew her Beretta M9 and aimed at the woman who shot Harima.

"Easy kid, it's a rubber bullet… actually… who the hell are you?" asked a tall an attractive woman with long dark purplish hair and a small mole by her mouth.

"I am Li Mai. Who are you?" asked Mai aiming her gun at the woman forehead.

"I'm Osakabe Itoko, Harima's cousin," said the woman. "Oi, Kenji-kun what's with the kid?"

"We found her in Korea. Her family is dead and we couldn't leave her. We all agreed to take care of her. If you let her stay we'll all pay for any of her expenses. The squad worked it all out that me, Kitsumori, and Asou would do what we can be her here and the other would help if asked," said Harima.

"The military let you take a Korean citizen out of the country?" asked Itoko.

"Hai, an American Lt. Colonel pulled a few stings for us. We just have to take her to the Ministry of Immigration (1) and get her some papers and shit," said Kitsumori.

"And you're still staying here?" she asked.

"Hey, I know the drill. I paying my rent," he said raising his hands in mock defense and walking past her with Mai's bag.

"I think I'll need a bigger place… but with the increased rent I can afford to move," Itoko said closing the door after them.

Mai was placed in a guest room, Kitsumori went into the room he used when he was there before, and Harima in his room. After he unpacked his stuff, he helped Mai unpack her belongings.

Mai's belongings consisted of a few change of clothes, a three pictures of her family and relatives, a small tool kit, a small medical kit, lock picks, Swiss army knife, bayonet, a necklace with a jade carving attached, a pillow, camping mattress, a blanket, and her M9 handgun.

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**0945 Hours; May 28****th****, 2010; Itoko's Apartment; Yagami, Japan**

Harima stepped out of the apartment alone, hopped on his motorcycle, and drove to the shopping district. Mai had to go the Ministry of Immigration in Tokyo and she had nothing formal for the occasion.

He entered a store and picked out an ankle length black skirt, white button dress shirt, a thin red sting like bow, and a black blazer jacket that he hoped was in her size. 'Damn, I should have brought her with me,' he thought.

He took the clothes to the register and handed them to the store clerk. She gave Harima a weird look which he responded by saying, "Uh… it's a surprise for my little sister. There is this thing and she doesn't have the proper clothing for it."

It wasn't a complete lie and the seemed to clerk buy it. "Aww, how sweet of you," she said scanning the items. He paid for them and returned to the apartment.

A few hours later, Harima and Mai were on a Yamanote Line (2) train to the heart of Tokyo after switching from a few previous trains. Harima was wearing an A Class formal military uniform because he wanted to look official and not like a delinquent and Mai was wearing the clothes he'd just bought; she seemed to like them and they even fitted her.

His dress uniform was a light whitish-green button-up shirt with a bluish-black tie, dark olive drab tunic, and matching pants. On his left sleeve roughly below the shoulder was a yellow chevron on a black patch which marked him as a private. On the other sleeve was a light blue coat of arms with a yellow 6 on it showing he was in the 6 Division. On his head was a cap that was dark olive drab too and had a shiny black visor to shield his eyes from the sun.

They soon emerged from the subway station into the governmental district of Tokyo. They entered a government building and sat down outside an office that dealt with cases of asylum (3).

"Li Mai," called a voice.

"Hai?" she said nervously.

"Please enter," said the voice from the office.

They entered the office of Isaka Chiyo, a middle-age woman with short dark brownish-red hair. Mai took a seat. Harima removed his hat, sat down next to Mai, and placed his hat in his lap.

"I received a call from the Embassy of the Republic of Korea and they informed me that your parents did not survive the attack on Pusan."

"Hai, ma'am," said Mai quietly from her chair.

"And no family that you know of survive?" she asked gently.

"Hai."

"And for your own safety you were evacuated from your home?"

"Hai."

Isaka wrote in a file on her desk and then looked up, "Okay, your papers are in and you don't appear to be a danger to our nation, so I can have you processed in a couple of hour. I just need some information fill out, okay?"

"Hai, arigato ma'am," said Mai a bit more relaxed.

"First I need you date of birth."

"August 25th, 1999."

"Your age is?"

"10 and I turn 11 this August ma'am."

"Your place of birth is?"

"The city of Pusan, Republic of Korea."

"Arigato Mai-san. Now Harima-san where is Mai going to stay?"

"In Yagami of the Kanagawa Prefecture at my cousin's place, where I live too," said Harima.

"And how are you going to support her?"

"5th squad has agreed to pay for all her medical, education, and other expenses throught our jobs."

"Where will she go to school?"

"We'll fill out the forms for Yagami Elementarily School once she has her papers."

"I see, it sounds like you and your squad is going to take good care of her," she said sounding a little impressed.

Harima placed a hand on Mai's head and ruffled her hair, "She's like family to us… and I would like to make that official."

"That's all I need to hear," said Isaka-san as she closed the file.

They were walking from Yagami Station. Mai was staring joyfully at her brand new Japanese Federation Passport and citizenship documents. Mai was guessing that American Lt. Colonel have really pulled some strings to get her in the country.

When they entered the apartment Harima said to Mai, "Welcome home, Mai."

She turned to face him, her face broke into a huge smile and he said, "Arigato, Onii-chan (big brother)." She hugged him and skipped off to her new room in her new home.

* * *

I wanted to give each of my characters gets a part in this chapter. I hope some of you were able to pick up on the early signs of Asou and Sarah pairing and Suō and Hanai pairing. It won't be the center of the plot, but may have some importance.

Stay tuned for when Tenma confronts Harima for her sister. See Mai on her first day of school. And the coming of the PLA and PKA.

Updated January 11, 2008: I liked how this chapter came out when I first wrote it a few mouths ago. I'll edit chapter 12 tonight and should be up in a few hours.

Appendix

1. I do not know there is a Ministry of Immigration, but I would assume that Japan must have some organization to duel with foreigners entering their country.

2. The Yamanote Line is one of the subway lines in Tokyo. It goes in a complete loop and passes through most of the major areas of Tokyo including the major shopping districts, business centers, the main rail terminal, and the government offices. Needless to say, the Yamanote Line is one of the busiest subway lines in Tokyo

3. Most of you may be familiar with the term asylum as a place for crazy people, but in this case it means a plea from a foreign citizen asking another country to take them in because if they're sent back to their homeland their will be killed there.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya


	12. Chapter 12: The Beginnings of a New Life

Here's more of my story. Let's see more of the gang trying to interact in civilian life after spending 9 days of war and the promise of more combat. As a piece of trivia the title of my story 'The Eastern World is Exploding' is the opening line from Barry McGuire's song 'Eve of Destruction' which was about the Vietnam War and Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's. I don't own School Rumble. Please review.

Updated January 11, 2008: Five more chapters to go before I'm done.

* * *

**Chapter 12: The Beginnings of a New Life**

"Every great journey begins with one step"

Unknown (tell me if you know)

**0700 Hours; May 29****th****, 2010; Itoko's Apartment; Yagami, Japan**

Hanai slowly awoke in his bed after good nights sleep. He looked up at the ceiling happily thinking that he didn't have any nightmares during the night. He stretched his arms and hit something soft and warm.

"What the…. Oh god." Hanai wasn't alone in his bed. After putting on his glasses he saw a curtain blue hair girl with very large breasts was sleeping next to him.

"Mikoto-chan?" he feebly croaked. "When? How? Why?"

She didn't answer because she was still asleep, but what she did do was snuggle up against him.

Hanai racked his brain to remember what had happened. He vaguely remembered going to a restaurant late last night, him and her drinking, and then coming back to his place, but he didn't remember her going home. 'Oh god,' he thought.

Hanai looked under the blanket and saw that they were still wearing clothes; him a T-shirt and boxers and her, a sports bra and shorts. Hanai felt both relief and slight disappointment at the same time.

"Oi, Mikoto, wake up," he said gently while shaking her.

"Wha…?" she said sleepily.

"Uh… ohayō (morning) Mikoto. Um… can you tell me what happen… last night," Hanai gently asked not sure if he wanted the answer.

"You don't remember? … well I guess you wouldn't, not after the amount you drank," Suō laughed.

Hanai listen as she explained about getting diner. She told him about her talking about waiting for orders from Northeastern HQ at Sendai and continuing training drill up until about two weeks ago. Him drinking instead of answering any questions about the war.

"Hanai, this isn't like you to avoid your problems. You normally take them head on in your pigheaded way. Come on, tell a little, just get what's bothering you off your chest," Suō calmly pleaded.

Hanai furrowed his brow, "Okay… well… where to start…"

Suō slid on her pants and shirt and sat on the edge of his bed. "Take your time."

"Right… well we were taught to fight some vague enemy, but never specifically against the North Koreans or Chinese and certainly not well enough. When we landed… well actually we were shot down out and crashed… anyways, we were without officers and most of our platoon. Over the next 9 days we lost most everyone in our company except for what amounted to 2 or 3 squads. So about 30 to 32 soldiers," Hanai said slowly.

"It was like everything was out to kill us. Bombers, mortars, artillery, rockets, snipers, and tanks and anything else that could shoot, explode, or harm us in any way. We were pretty close… the 8 of us that survived the crash. We lost one… his name was Rumune Riku… a private and engineer… and a friend… it was like losing a brother," He continued.

"But you only knew him for a short while," reasoned Suō.

"You don't get it at all," Hanai said with a shake of his head. "It was only the 8 of us fighting for survival. In 24 hours I was closer to them than I am to my family… I even became friends with Kenji and have learned to let go of Yakumo."

Suō was speechless. After a few seconds she thought to herself, 'Wow… war must really change people.' "I think I understand a little," she said.

"… arigato…" Hanai said. He checked his clock, "You might want to go before my parents wake up and kill us both."

Suō looked at the clock and nodded. As she got up to leave Hanai asked her, "Mikoto, did we do… er anything last night?"

"Uh… no, not really," she mumbled, blushing.

"I see… maybe we should talk later."

"Hai, we should."

Suō left stealthily from Hanai's house to hers. Hanai decided to take a bath and think about how his whole life was changing; he relation with his parents, his social life, and most of all, his relationship with Mikoto was all changing.

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**0711 Hours; June 2****nd****, 2010; Itoko's Apartment; Yagami, Japan**

Mai was now pulling on her new school uniform. It had a brown coat, underneath was a white dress shirt, thin red bow, and red pleated skirt, all like the Yagami High School uniform, but was styled more like a sailor uniform; complete with sailor-style collar and hat (1).

She placed her new textbooks, calculator, pencil case, and notebooks in her new brown leather satchel like school bag. She tied her blackish-brown hair in the same Asian-style braided pony tail with an emerald green string securing it in place. She examined herself in the mirror in her room. She smiled at her reflection.

"Mai, breakfast" said a voice from the other side of the closed door.

"Hai, Onii-chan," said Mai.

Mai had a name for each of her adopted family: Hanai is Nii-chan, Harima is Onii-chan, Kitsumori is Nii-san, and Asou is Nii-sama (2). She was adjusting to her new home fairly quickly, though there were moments when she displayed some awkwardness, but she was a non-native of Japan. She also had moments when she showed she was much smarter than most people her age.

Harima, Kitsumori, and Itoko were watching the morning news as they ate breakfast. Mai took her place at the table and joined them in watching a report on the war.

"It was confirmed five days ago that the Republic of Korea fell to Communist forces and now in Washington DC Asian-Americans rally outside of the United States Department of Defense, Capitol, and White House," said a news anchorperson. "The rallies mostly consist of Korean-Americans and South Korean refugees demanding the United States take action to liberate their homeland. They are joined by Japanese-Americans who plead that the US does not abandon Japan to Chinese and North Korean invasion that all believe is inevitable."

"I certainly hope they don't leave us," said Kitsumori.

The anchorman continued his report, "Information on the goings on in the Korean Peninsula is scarce, and in fact any updates are completely unavailable. Other countries in NATO are currently deciding weather to send more troops or not. Canada, a country that does frequent business with Japan and South Korea and has received many refugees, has announced that they will send more military aid. England, France, Turkey, and Germany have not yet decided weather to send more soldiers, other than the replacements for the soldiers they lost already."

"I don't think more land troops will be need," said Mai. "Planes and warships will be more useful considering the terrain."

"True," agreed the others.

"We will continue with the news after these messages." The news cut to a commercial about a new store opening in the neighboring town of Karakura (3), just up the Sagami Line towards Uenohara.

"What do two you have planned today?" asked Itoko.

"I've got a part time Job in Karakura," said Kitsumori.

"That's your hometown, isn't it?" asked Harima.

"Hai. What are you doing today Kenji?"

"I'm taking Mai to her first day of school and then I've got some errands and then I'm meeting with Yakumo-san to discuss the manga," said Harima. "And I'm sure you're going to teach today Itoko-san."

"Of course, if I don't show up, they would fire me," said Itoko. Harima couldn't picture a school board with the strength or courage to fire his cousin, but he made no comment; he knew better than to that.

Itoko checked the clock on the wall. "If we have all these things to do then we should get going."

"Hai," they responded.

Kitsumori walked down to the city's commuter rail station from which he could take a train to Yagami Staion and then take a second train to Karakura. Itoko got into her car and drove to Yagami High School to her science teaching job. Mai got into a sidecar that Harima had recently bought and attached to his motorcycle. Harima started his bike and drove off to Yagami Elementary School, a school located a few kilometers northwest of the high school.

"We're here," he said to Mai. They were outside the main entrance in front. Mai climbed out of the bike and grabbed her brown school bag. Harima escorted her down the walkway and inside the school. People stared at Harima because he was in his formal uniform again; he had it on because, aside from his old school uniform and the clothes he wore when he met with the chief editor of the manga company he wrote for, it was only the only formal clothing he owned.

"Ohayō gozaimasu (good morning), I am Watazaki-sensei and I will be Mai's teacher (4)," said a middle age woman to Harima.

"Nice to meet you, I am Harima Kenji, Mai's legal guardian. I leave her in your capable hands," said Harima with a bow and his best attempt at politeness. Harima and Watazaki-sensei discussed Mai's education for a little while before Harima left Mai to her first day in a Japanese school. It did occur to Harima that Mai would only have a few days of school before she had summer break and than return to school at the end of June; Harima heard that the Americans actually got all three months of summer off instead of the shorter break they got. He smiled and waved before leaving her.

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**0840 Hours; June 2****nd****, 2010; Karakura JR North Station, Karakura; Kanagawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

Kitsumori got off his train at Karakura Station. Karakura was a city about the same size as Yagami. It was situated on a rail line in between Uenohara and split off to Hiratsuka and Chigasaki which were roughly where the Sagami River let out into the Sagami Sea which in turn let out into the Pacific Ocean.

Kitsumori walked out of the station and along the Sagami River that divided the town roughly in half. He then walked through the city to a deliver service which he worked part time as a bicycle messenger. As he entered he bumped into a short teenager with neck length blue hair and droopy eyes.

"Ouch! … gomen (sorry) I should have been… Kitsumori-kun?" asked the boy.

"Hanatarō-kun?" asked Kitsumori in recognition.

"It is you. We thought you died," said Hanatarō with a look of near excitement on his basset hound like face.

"Iē, I'm quiet alive, but almost died," he said holding up his arms as if to prove he was alive and capable of movement. "So, you got draft into the medical corp. How's that going?"

Hanatarō looked down and spoke to his feet, "uh… we treated a lot of the wounded from Pusan… it must have been bad out there… judging by what I saw at the hospital at Yokohama."

Kitsumori nodded understandingly, Hanatarō didn't need to explain the gut wrenching, nauseating sight of carnage. "I guess I'll see ya."

"Hai, I guess we will." He left and Kitsumori picked up his first deliver of the day; a summons to appear in court (4).

Kitsumori rode his bike down the streets; it was a normal bicycle with a rack over the back wheel to strap on small packages or bundles of letters. He stopped in front of Karakura High School where he had gone to school. He thought about some of his friends and teachers; what would they think of what he'd done in Korea? Would they hate him? Or would they just tell him it wasn't his fault? Kitsumori didn't know which he wanted to hear less.

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**1000 Hours; June 2****nd****, 2010; US Special Operation Command West Pacific HQ; Yokohama, Japan**

"Ladies and gentlemen I would like to introduce Lt. Colonel Shinhachi; 15th Assault Platoon Roanoke of the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (5). He's a trained expert on waging war in the Far East and Eastern Europe and is highly familiar with China, North Korea, Yugoslavians, Ukrainians, Russians, and the rest of the Soviet Union," said a SOCOM commander.

In a briefing room at a US base at Yokohama gathered US Navy SEALs, Delta Operators, Green Berets, Swics, Night Stalkers, 75th Ranger Regiment, 1st Special Operation Wing, Air Force Special Tactics, Marine Force Recon, and all the intelligence agencies (6).

Joining them was the British Special Air Service (SAS) (7), the German Kommando Spezialkraft (KSK), and the French Cammandant des Opérations Speciales (COS).

Lt. Colonel Shinhachi stepped up in front of a projection screen where an image of the Korea Peninsula and the Japanese Islands was shown. He pressed a few keys on a laptop and the screen displayed Korea in red and Japan in blue. "As you can see, Korea is firmly under Communist control."

He took a laser pointer and pointed to the area around Hokkaido, Tiatia, Sakhalin, and the Russian mainland. "The Soviet deserters have brought with them a squadron of the new Su-47s. They are high performance fighter planes that could most out perform our own fighters. They will want to use this to their advantage. They can't operate near Soviet territory or risk presenting an easy target for the Soviet special forces or KGB. In other words they will stay clear of Russia and the north will not present an appealing target for an attack."

He pointed to Honshu. "The central area is the farthest point from the mainland and because the Communists do not have aircraft carriers (8) they will have to rely on land bases for air support, so they will prefer beaches near by land bases. Basically, Southern Honshu and Kyushu will be the obvious target."

A Navy Intelligence officer raised his hand. "I was wondering would they draw out our forces and then attack somewhere else? Even if it meant no air cover."

"Well, they would definitely consider such an idea. It is a possibility to we can't ignore, but not likely considering our navel superiority."

"What's our best plan of defense?"

"Take advantage of our carriers. We have them, they don't. We can engage them more flexibly and further at to sea. I personally think we can't stop them from landing, but we can wipe out their supply and logistical ships and starve them," he said.

"What about the fight on the land?" asked someone.

"The mountains, rivers, and urban areas that occupy most of Japan will make tank warfare a nightmare. We should make use of our choppers, light vehicles and armor, and infantry. On this kind of battlefield a light mobile force will operate better. Keep in mind, a lot of they Soviet built vehicles like the BMP and BMD are light enough for air transport and are amphibious. They aren't short on high mobility."

"When do you think the attack will come?"

"Reports show they had been planning for a little while, but not long enough to launch the invasion in the near future. I would say maybe a few months… if they are wanting to capitalize on the momentum they created after our retreat they will invade sooner, but that would risk being not being properly prepared."

"How would such an attack be launched?"

"The Chinese have a decent size navy; they have large transport and hovercraft. Considering their equipment I would say they would use their landing craft with amphibious tanks and vehicles leading the way and carve out a beachhead. They can launch choppers from their ships. Simply it would be amphibious armor and infantry with land and sea based air support, fallowed by how hovercraft, then larger landing craft, and the big transports. Once on land they'll probably send light mech infantry and airborne infantry ahead of the main force with the heavy stuff behind them," Shinhachi said showing images of PLA amphibious armor and invasion craft.

'It's our only choice to stand and fight," Shinhachi thought. 'Or give up the land of my ancestors. I made be a 4th generation American, but I'm still Japanese and losing this nation to the Commies will be over my dead body.'

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**1500 Hours; June 2****nd****, 2010; the local café; Yagami, Japan**

Harima entered a café where he knew Yakumo worked in the afternoons after school. He saw her serving some customers. He sat and waited. He adjusted the new sunglasses he'd just bought to replace the ones that were smashed in the chopper crash in Korea.

"May I sit?" asked a female voice next to him. Harima looked up to see Tenma staring down at him with a serious look on her face. He nodded and she sat across from him. Tenma gave him a glare to intimidate him; Harima was fighting the urge to laugh. 'She can be so cute,' he thought, '… but something's different.'

She looked and acted the same as always. She was as cute as ever, but he didn't feel the same desire to be with her.

Then it hit him, he was over her. He'd accepted that they could never be a couple at some point… and he could finally move on with his life. He gave her a friendly smile and took a sip of tea from the cup on the table. He never felt more ready to talk to her with no fear of being misunderstood.

"Harima-kun," she started in the slow quiet tone that signaled she was very nervous and was about to speak very quickly.

"Hai?" he asked calmly. Aside from a small emptiness in his soul, he felt no pain about the situation. He didn't hate her, in fact he felt a curtain fondness for her as his first love, but it was not a romantic fondness.

Tenma took a deep breath and then said, "I've been talking with my little sister."

"And?" he prompted, not really sure where this was going.

"She says you love me," she said with great effort. Tenma was finding it very awkward to confront Harima and couldn't look him in the eye.

He nodded slowly, "Hai, but…"

"I'm afraid I'm with Karasuma-kun and we can never be together so forget about me and focus on my sister," Tenma said very quickly.

Harima had to carefully think and rethink what she said because she had talked so fast in the way only girls seemed to have mastered. Once he made sense of some of it he said, "Firstly, I have accepted that we can only be friends. Secondly, I am over you. And thirdly… what about your sister?"

Tenma thought hard, 'Mmm… he doesn't seem to lying. But how do I get him with Yakumo. I'll just keep him talking and make it up as I go along… uh-huh I can't lose with Onee-chan powa'.'

"So Harima-kun what was Korea like?" she asked, changing the subject completely.

The smile on Harima's face dropped in a second. "It was… um… you know those first-person video games and how they always starts off easy and gets harder?"

Tenma nodded.

"Well… it wasn't anything like that. It started hard and then got cruel… actually I made drawings," he said pulling out his sketchbook.

Tenma opened it (this will be from her perspective).

The first picture was an image a river taken from the perspective of a bridge; smoke was curling in the distance from a city. The next picture was of group of soldiers and a small girl sitting on and around a military car thingy; they all had weary smiles, but they also looked very tired; most of all they looked proud and happy to be staying together. After that was one of an airport that looked like it was turned into a fortress, then the same place with planes bombing, and then the same place a third time, but completely destroyed. Then a bunch of tanks and helicopters attacking Japanese soldiers on a bridge. Then one of Chinese soldiers attacking Japanese, German, and American soldiers. The same image, but planes bombing the Chinese. Then pictures of individual people.

Tenma admired the individual pictures each with a name at the bottom; Private 1st Class Shimazu Saito, Private 1st Class Kaoji Taro, Private Yamako Ichiro, Captain Nara Tsubaki, 1st Lt. Zakito Karin, and Captain Matsuyashi Soko. Then a beautiful one a smiling soldier with light brown hair and an earring in his right ear and a title on the bottom that said, 'In Honor of Private Rumune Riku, killed in action by a North Korean air attack on the Nokdang Bridge, December 1st, 1992-May 20th, 2010, he was a friend and brother in arms. Good-bye my brother.'

Tenma was on the verge of tears, "Did you know this man for a long time?"

Harima shook his head and answered, "Its funny how you only spend a short amount of time and become close."

Tenma nodded and checked her watch. Her eyes widen at the time. "I have to go. I've got a date."

Harima nodded and appreciated what that statement would have done to him a few weeks earlier… probably send him spiraling into depression. Tenma ran out of the café in a hurry to meet Karasuma somewhere. He stirred his tea for a little bit mulling over the conversation.

"Ano… may I join you?" asked a small, almost timid voice.

"Of course Yakumo-san," Harima said to her.

Yakumo sat across from Harima like her sister did before her. She felt a small level of confidence when Tenma told her about the conversation she had with Harima before leaving the café.

"What did you think of the chapter I sent you?"

"I think that page 87 needs a little work, but for the most part I think it was okay," she said while pointing to the offending page.

"I thought it was okay, but you're usually right about these things," Harima said trusting her judgment.

Yakumo noticed Harima's sketchbook. "May I look?" Harima passed it to her and she opened it.

She looked through the same images Tenma saw, but she noticed a how tired and scared they all looked in the pictures of the battles and after the battles the weariness in their faces. "Were you scared?"

Harima looked at her in surprise. No one had thought to ask him that question and he slowly nodded. "It's very frightening out there… I think the worst is in between battles… the silence is overwhelming and you always wonder when they will come."

Yakumo listened and Harima talked and talked. He spoke about the chopper being shot down. He talked about being separated from the main body of the company. The shootouts with the North Koreans. The little girl named Mai. The bombing of Gimhae International Airport. Losing a friend on the Nakdong Bridge and how the world doesn't stop for the loss of one man.

"… we did a bad thing…" he said after describing the terrifying battle with the Chinese tanks.

Yakumo was on edge from all the blood curtailing description, but she could see this was really bothering him. "What?"

"… there was… a… a… bank," Harima spoke slowly, "and there were Chinese in it… we threw a bunch of grenades in… and stormed it… we didn't know that… innocent people were inside." He looked like he might break down and cry. It was extremely unnerving to see a man she saw as unbreakable sat before her as a broken man. "We didn't mean to…"

Yakumo nodded understandingly. She placed her hand on his and gave it a squeeze, "You wouldn't be this upset if you weren't sorry. The Kenji-san I know wouldn't purposely kill innocent people. He is strong… a little stupid, but never used his strength cause serious harm to the innocent."

"I… I'm… gonna do good next time. I will make up for it. Even if I have to die, I will not go out without becoming a redeemed man," he said with each word getting steadily stronger.

"Ongai (please)… come back when you go back to battle. If possible to do any good in war… do it and come home. People here do care about you and depend on you," she said.

Harima smiled, "Like I said before, you're usually right about these things."

He checked his watch and realized he needed to pick Mai up from school in an hour. "I need to get going."

Yakumo nodded. As she watched him leave, she was a little disappointed she couldn't tell him that she loved him, but she knew she was getting closer to that moment.

* * *

If anyone is bored with my civilian life description, sorry, but I feel I needed to write about the difficulty of reconnecting with civilian life. The battle begins again in the next chapter as the Communist invades Japan.

Updated January 11, 2008: Wow, this didn't take long. I'll have the next chapter up tonight too if I keep this up.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. In Japan most schoolgirls wear a sailor style uniform. Boys wear a pair of grey pants, white shirt, and black jacket. A number of elementary schools don't require uniforms, but most junior high and high schools require a uniform.

2. There are many ways to refer to an older brother or sister in Japanese. The basic form is Onii-san which really means a young man and is how you refer anyone between their teens and late twenties. The same stand true with Onee-san, young woman. Basically you can change the suffix with words like chan or sama and you can remove the O and replace it with an A or not. The O is honorific and in many Japanese words that start with an O you can remove, but it's considered polite to use it.

3. Karakura is a fictional town that the Tite Kubo's manga Bleach takes place in. Beyond my fanfiction and some others, there is no relation between Bleach and School Rumber.

4. Like in many elementary schools, Japanese elementary students are usually taught by only one teacher. Once at the Jr. High and High School level they are taught by multiple teachers for each subject.

5. I don't know if the Japanese Judicial System uses summons like in the US.

6. According to the Pentagon, officially there is no Task Force Delta; even if we all know it exists and there are numerous books, movies, and games on them. Officially they are the 1st Special Force Operational Detachment-Delta.

7. Most of you are probably familiar with the SEALs and Green Beret. Night Stalkers are Delta Force's air transport and support unit and the Swics are the SEALs special transport unit. 1st Special Tactics Wing is some of the air forces special forces. There are so many intelligence agencies it would take a while to describe them all, and that's not even including government agencies like the CIA.

8. The Special Air Service was form on July 22, 1941 during World War II under British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. They are the oldest modern special forces unit still in active service.

9. Very few countries have aircraft carriers. In Asia and the Pacific, only Russia, India, Thailand, and U.S. have carriers. Other countries with carriers include France, England, Brazil, Spain, and Italy. The Japanese Osumi Class as some similarities to a carrier, but isn't consider one. I may make a few changes for the purposes of my story. In real life the US Navy has 12 carriers and I think they're building more; most other countries only have one or two.


	13. Chapter 13: Op: Eclipsing the Rising Sun

Okay, enough drama, time for action. The Red Hordes are coming, hee, sounds like a Cold War era newsreel. 5th squad gets there replacements; there will be mashing of animes here as I throw in characters from Bleach. I don't own either School Rumble or Bleach. They are the owned by Jin Kobayashi and Tite Kubo in that order. Please review.

Updated January 11, 2008: This was okay. It was also where I first put some of the characters from Bleach in it.

* * *

**Chapter 13: Operation: Eclipsing the Rising Sun**

"The war is coming home"

A quote from the World in Conflict game trailer

**0730 Hours; June 5****th****, 2010; Itoko's Apartment; Yagami, Japan**

"Are you guys going to be okay?" asked Mai. "Maybe I should go with you."

"Iē (no), Mai-chan, you are not a soldier. Even if you know more about survival than us," said Kitsumori. "Besides, we're only going to a training ground a few kilometers (1) away."

"Okay, but take this, I spent all night translating it from Korean," she handed Harima and Kitsumori a notebook with the title 'The Li Family's Survival Guide'.

"Arigato Mai-chan, this will be a big help. Take care," said Harima giving his adopted little sister a hug. Kitsumori gave her one after Harima.

"Sayonara, Onii-chan, Nii-san, please be careful and tell Nii-chan and Nii-sama that I love them," said Mai.

"We will and you take care," they said waving good-bye.

After a few moments Itoko walked up behind Mai and said to her, "Don't worry, they're tough. Now, you're spending the night at a friend's right?" Mai was making friend at her school.

"Hai, Nee-sama," Mai said to Itoko.

"Right, we better get going, I'll drive you today." Itoko had promised to keep an eye on Mai and to keep track of her comings and goings. Also, Mai's summer break was to start next week and someone need to watch her which would include Itoko and even the Tsukamoto Sisters.

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**0700 Hours; June 6****th****, 2010; a training ground on the Sagami Sea; Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan**

"I am Staff Sergeant Asou Hiroyohsi," shouted at his new recruits. "I am in charge of 5th squad of Echo Company. You are now part of the 27th Infantry Battalion; an infantry unit that uses both armor and helicopters to move about the battlefield. First, you new recruits introduce yourselves."

He approached a man with blue hair and rectangular glasses. "Sir, I'm Private Ishida Uryū. Sharpshooter, sir," said the man holding up an M21 semi-auto sniper rifle with a x8 zoom scope.

Next was his new assault team leader. "Sir, I am Corporal Ikuro Miyu," said the female corporal presenting her M4A1 carbine.

Then his new assault team. "Private Kurosaki Ichigo, rifleman, sir," said a tall man with bright orange hair and a scowl on his face.

"Private Abarai Renji, rifleman and grenadier, sir," said a man with long red hair showing a Type 89 assault rifle with an M203 grenade launcher mounted on it.

"Private Abarai, what is wrong with your eyebrows?" asked Asou.

"… nothing, they're tattoos, sir," said Abarai looking offended. Asou stared for a few seconds and decided to move on.

"Sir, I am Private Kotai Seiji," said a thin man with very short black hair.

Asou went around his squad. Yamako had transferred into 5th squad from his chopper squadron as part of the command team and was now a permanent part of the squad. Hanai was promoted to corporal and now lead the fire team. A woman named Private Jupei Miho, who carried a Type 89 assault rifle with an M203, filled in the forth spot in the fire team. Shimazu was now a corporal and leader of the engineer team. Privates Shino Kotaro, Gawaki Shota, and Reimaru Jin were the replacement combat engineers.

Asou wasted no time. He trained his men from dawn to dusk. The complaints of the replacements were silenced by the veterans' stories of being unprepared for the onslaught of Communist solders. That and Harima and Hanai would smack them around a little to show they meant business and had to train whether they liked it or not.

Although the replacements had received training before at Northeastern Group HQ in Sendai, Asou was determined to prepare his soldiers for the fury of war. He was relying heavily on the notes Mai had given to Harima and Kitsumori; which they gave to him.

They worked hard. They knew the Chinese and North Koreans were coming.

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**1115 Hours; June 15, 2010; SOCOM West Pacific HQ; Yokohama, Japan**

It was mid June now; Lt. Colonel Shinhachi was reviewing Intel reports on Operation: Eclipsing the Rising Sun. 'Cute name,' he thought sarcastically. Somewhere off the coast of Japan was the PLN (People's Liberation Navy). They had invasion craft ready to go and they would strike any day now. Shinhachi couldn't help but question the communists' logic in launching an attack without longer preparation.

He looked out of window a room in a boarding house on a US base in Yokohama. He liked keeping busy, though he also enjoyed relaxing, but at home and not on a base. He wished he could go home, with nothing to do he felt he she be allow to return for a few days on R and R (rest and relaxation). He gently ran a finger across the picture of a petite girl with bright green eyes with specs of blue and long blackish-brown hair; he and Maiwald and their other friends were also in the picture. He frowned, wondering what she could be doing.

His cell phone rang. He picked it off his waistband and recognized the number as one that belonged to a friend in the intelligence community, "Yes?"

A voice using a voice distorter said, "It's starting. Destination is southern Honshu and western Kyushu."

"Thank you. I will alert all commands."

'So it begins,' Shinhachi thought as he dialed the numbers of Western Pacific commanders.

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**1008 Hours; June 20, 2010, US West Pacific Command HQ, subdivision of the US Pacific Command; Yokohama, Japan**

"We stopped the Communist invasion 40 kilometers short of Kobe," said a Colonel to General O'Grady pointing to the city of Kobe, a major city that ran up against the metropolis Osaka.

"Kyushu has completely fallen and now they're invading the island of Shikaku, but our paratroopers are slowing their advance. Are carriers were at navel yards in Okinawa and they are now harassing the Commies supply lines," said the colonel.

"I see," said the general. Maneuvering soldiers in Japan was hard. The country's mountainous terrain, much like Korea, only allowed so many units to engage each simultaneously; so basically a few regiments were engage each other head on and the rest would have to be in reserve. His problem was that many of the Communists light tanks and APCs were amphibious (2) and choppers like the Mi-26 (3) that could airlift pretty heavy equipment to out flank NATO.

"Mmm… if they take Shikaku (4), that would put them in easy striking distance of Osaka, but if launched an amphibious assault… hey look at this," said to his aids.

"The island of Awaji here in between Shikaku and Honshu, it has a regiment of PKA paratroopers holding it, and it is connected by these bridges to the main islands. This bridge the Akashi-Kaikyō (5) goes to a large suburb just outside of Kobe, behind the Commies' lines. If we could send a force across here where it's about 10 miles across then we could size the island, set up an LZ (landing zone) for airborne units and marines to attack the Commies rear. Who's in the area and can go?"

"Uh… our 2nd marine battalion, the Japanese 81st Heliborne/Armor Regiment, and the Japanese 7th Marine Battalion. For support we have the some of the Japanese 2nd Escort Fleet, the German 158th Artillery Battalion, and various NATO fighter squadrons. There is also a Delta Force platoon on that island attacking their AA guns and bugging their communication systems," said the colonel doing a search on a computer database.

"Great, I ask go see if the Japanese our willing to lend me command of those units and I'll see if SOCOM will get those them to provide intel on the enemy," said General O'Grady.

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**1000 Hours; June 22****nd****, 2010; briefing hall, a Japanese Ground Self-Defense Forces Base; Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan**

"This is called Operation: Red Water," said Major Daijin pointing to a screen with a map of the Kitan Strait. "The plan calls for US soldiers and our soldiers to launch an amphibious and airborne assault, then eliminate all Triple-A threats and beach defenses on the beachhead, codenamed 'Umi-yama'. Once that is accomplished, we gather our strength and secure a larger LZ and if possible secure an airport or sea port to pave the way for a flanking force to attack the enemy in Kobe from the rear."

2nd Platoon leader 2nd Lieutenant Genta raised his hand. "Ma'am, how are we being transported?"

Major Daijin leaned over to a laptop by her and changed the images on the screen to vehicle schematics and pictures. "We will use amphibious kits on our Type 73 APCs to transport our soldiers by sea. Also the USMC is joining us in this attack and they have the AAV7A1 amphibious assault vehicles. Our Maritime Forces will provide CH-53EJ Super Stallions to airlift some our IFVs. Hovercraft will also be provided for this assault to get the 28th Armor Battalions medium and heavy armor across."

"When is the operation?" asked someone.

"July 2nd," she said. "Command wants this to be done as soon as possible." Only 12 days to get ready.

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**0950 Hours; June 30****th****, 2010; Sagami River mouth; Kanagawa Prefecture, Japanese Federation**

"This is boring," complained Kurosaki.

"Tell me about," agreed Harima.

They were in a Type 73 Armored Personal Carrier (APC) with floatation aids mounted on it. They had some of the top hatches open and they were sitting in the open air on the roof of the APCs. The APC averaged a water speed of 7 km/h and it was not very exciting to cross various bodies of water that were supposed to simulate their attack. Crossing a 10km strait at that speed meant they spent they spent over an hour on the APCs.

"Why can't we use those American amphibious vehicles, sir?" Shimazu asked Asou.

"They belong to the Americans and they aren't enough for them to spare," Asou answered. Personally, he wondered why Japan didn't have their own amphibious vehicles or buy them from the US. The American AAV7A1 was made to be a seaborne transport vehicle and was specifically designed for these kinds of assault. They could travel twice the speed they could in an AAV7A1.

Scattered around the Type 73 APCs were some of the USN (United States Navy) hovercraft that were loaned to the Japanese. There were only about sixteen of the hovercraft 12 had two Type 74 medium tanks, the others had a single Type 90 heavy tank, and they also carried a couple squads of infantry. Above 40 Maritime Force's MH-53EJ were airlifting Type 89 IFVs and HMMWVs. Everyone was trying keep pace with each other so the hovercraft and Super Stallions were traveling much slower than they normally would.

"Okay boys and girls, we're approaching the beachhead," said the driver.

The Type 73s fired off smoke grenades from their smoke dischargers in order to shield themselves from view of a 'simulated' enemy or basically a bunch of plywood targets in the rough shape of a human torso. Everyone that was sitting in the open air climbed down inside the APC and closed the hatches.

"30 seconds," said the driver. Behind the driver, the main gunner chambered a round in his M2 .50 cal heavy machine gun. Inside, 5th squad's the engineer team and command team readied for they simulated attack; since the Type 73 APC only had a capacity of 9 men, the assault team and fire team were in a second armor personal carrier.

"We're hitting the shore, get ready!" shouted the driver. There was a lurch and they knew they hit land and the tracks were now on the ground.

"Clear the ramp!" shouted the driver. They were storming over the drawbridge like exit and out the rear of the APCs. Asou leaded around the Type 73 and after scanning the horizon he signaled to Ikuro to take her team up. He signaled to Hanai to follow Ikuro and for Shimazu to follow Asou. Asou ran up towards the land from the opposite side of the APC as Ikuro's and Hanai's teams.

As they approached high dunes at opposite of the shore they saw training targets. The fired a few shots off and continued. On their left were the US marines storming out of their amphibious assault vehicles with their M-16A4s, M-249 SAWs, and M4A1s.

Kaoji tossed a green smoke grenade to signal the beach was secure. MH-53EJs delivered Type 89 IFVs that were attached to the bottom of the chopper via cables. They slowly descended and detached the IFVs. Hovercraft pulled in and deployed the tanks. They watched the USMC deploy their M60A5 Patton medium tanks and M2A2 Bradley IFVs; the Bradley looked just like the Type 89 IVF, but had a twin TOW launcher on one side of the turret where as the Type 89 IFV has a single TOW launcher on each side of the turret.

"These drills are useless after a while," complained Yamako. "Sure, doing them a few times to get us familiar with these vehicles is good and all, but not 12 times."

"What's the big deal?" asked Abarai.

"Listen up Mr. Freaky-Eyebrows, these exercises don't show us what it will be like under fire," lectured Harima

"Who are you calling Mr. Freaky-Eyebrows?!" Abarai roared at Harima.

"You, now shut up," he said hitting Abarai over the head and knocking him to the ground in a very comic manner.

"Uh, Harima, don't knock my soldiers unconscious," said Asou vaguely.

"Gomen, sir, but I thought I needed to make a point to him," Harima said. Asou decided it was a waste of time to pursue the point.

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**2047 Hours; June 30****th****, 2010; Barracks #33, a Ground Self-Defense Forces base; Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan**

5th squad had assembled in their barrack. They were killing time in their evening. Harima was working on his manga; a new one about a boy who goes to war and learns to over come his heartbreak. Hanai was practicing martial arts outside with Abarai who was also martial art enthusiasts. Ikuro was reading a novel quietly in her cot. Ishida was fixing a rip in his uniform from a small sowing kit he kept in his tac-vest; something that struck the others as odd, but no one commented. Kaoji was studying a German to Japanese Dictionary because a lot of the support would be from the Bundeswehr's Heer and Luftwaffe (6). Asou was reading a Japanese to English Dictionary because he knew that the USMC was a major part of the operation and it was one of the official languages of NATO (7). Shimazu, Kitsumori, and the rest of the engineer team were playing cards. Kurosaki was reading a textbook of some kind.

"Oi, Kurosaki, what are you reading?" asked Yamako.

"A book," he said unhelpfully.

"A medical journal?" Yamako asked dumbfounded when he saw the title.

"Hai," Kurosaki said, clearly wanting to be left alone.

"Funny you don't look that smart," he said.

Kurosaki shrugged, "Because of my orange hair, people always picked fights with me (8). Because I was always in fights, I was always in trouble. So to keep the school from expelling me I studied hard and got good grades."

"Mmm… well I guess after meeting Harima I shouldn't judge people who look like delinquents," Yamako said thinking about Harima and his manga. "So why a doctor?"

"… well, my dad is one and I thought I could do some good as a doctor," he said looking Yamako in the eyes. "I've also lost some people close to me… I wanted to help save people one day."

"Alright, I can respect that," he said nodding understandingly. "Though… this isn't the place to save people."

"What about you, Ishida?" he asked the bespectacled blue hair man.

"Well… I want to open my own hobby shop," he said while inspecting the clothing he'd finished repairing. "I love sowing as a hobby, and I know people who do other things like building model planes and I know their needs, so I thought I'd be good at it… I've also thought about maybe going into the family business of running hospitals."

"Cool, anyone else as long as were getting to know each other?" Yamako asked the room.

Some of the soldiers shared they hopes and dreams to go to college, see foreign countries, get a job, start a family, and live life like any normal person. Harima was listening and was slowly forming ideas for characters for his manga. 'Everyone has hopes and dreams,' he thought.

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**2235 Hours; June 30****th****, 2010; basement of an unknown person, Awaji Island; Hyōgo Prefecture, Japanese Federation**

Shinhachi was sitting in the basement of someone's home. The owner's had probably evacuated when the North Koreans had attacked Awaji Island early this week. He was watching a real-time tac-map of the area on his laptop; noting that the front between Kobe and the outer suburbs of Osaka wasn't moving in either direction much.

"Anything knew Jack?" asked Captain Maiwald walking into the basement with two cups of coffee.

"Yeah, sit down and I'll tell you," he said taking one of the cups from Maiwald. Maiwald took a seat next to Shinhachi and looked at the screen of the laptop.

"Take a look, all of the invading forces are either PLA or PKA," he said indicating the red tanks, soldiers, and ships that represented hostile units. "No sign of Ivan."

"Mmm, that's funny, I thought whole point of deserting the Red Army was to join the NKs (North Koreans) and Chinese," said Maiwald. "Unless they have something else in mind."

"Yeah, and that's what worries me," said Shinhachi taking a sip of coffee.

"Where would they go and how do we not know where an entire division is?" asked Maiwald conversationally as though they were discussing what they had for lunch.

"Don't know, probably deeper into Communist territory, maybe west towards Kazakhstan and the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) (9)," said Shinhaci in the same calm conversational tone Maiwald was using. "Our Navy will seal off the breach and the Commies will starve. They can't win here. Between our carries and the sheer size of the Japanese Maritime Forces, the Reds would have known that we dominate the Pacific (10). The Soviets probably knew that… so they had another plan in mind, but what fuck is it?"

* * *

Well this chapter took me a while to write because I had to spend hours looking over maps of southern and central Japan and looking up information on amphibious vehicles. I surprised Japan doesn't have the AAV7A1 in service or use something similar considering their homeland is an island nation. Well, I like leaving a clip hanger because it gives people a reason to keep reading. Hope ya'll enjoy this story.

**One more thing**, I have posted **13 chapters** online now totaling over **40,000 words** now and I have received over **400 hits** to this story. **I think I have earned more then one review**.

Updated January 11, 2008: Heh, I remember how pissed I was that I wrote this far and one only one review. Now I have 30 chapters, nearly 2,000 hits, 3 people listing this story as a favorite, and 10 reviews. Please tell me what you think, I'm always on the look out for opinions. Also if you have friends you think would enjoy this story, please tell them because I'm trying to maximize my readers.

This will be the last chapter for today, the next edited chapters will not appear until tomorrow. Sorry.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. Kilometer (km) is the metrics system's measure of distance unit. I'm an American and measure distance in miles, but the characters aren't all American and they'll probably use the metric system. 25.4mm or 2.54cm 1 inch, 127mm or 12.7cm 5 inches.

2. I was very surprised by how many Soviet vehicles are amphibious. All the BMP and BMD infantry tanks, light tanks like the TP-76 and the Chinese version the Type 63. Even some of their self-propelled artillery are amphibious such as the M1974 (2S1).

3. The Soviet Mi-26, NATO codename the 'Halo', is the most powerful helicopter in the world. It is capable of lifting a 22 ton vehicle or 80 soldiers in addition to its 5 man crew. Do to its immense power; it is a fairly popular chopper to transport lighter armor. I don't think the Chinese or the North Koreans have the Halo in service.

4. Shikaku is one of the four main islands of Japan. It is situated off the main island of Honshu and north of the southern island of Kyushu. Other main island is Hokkaido, the northern island.

5. Akashi-Kaikyō Bridge connects Awaji Island and the city of Kobe and at 6,532ft or 1,991m is currently the world's longest suspension bridge.

6. The Bundeswehr what the German military is called today. It includes the Heer (army), Luftwaffe (air force), and Kriegsmarine (navy).

7. NATO has two official languages: French and English. Because many of the NATO Staff Generals are German, the German language is also a major language in NATO, but not an official one.

8. Sadly, the Japanese have problems with people who look different from everyone else. Not to say that all Japanese are that way of course, but it is a problem that exists in Japan and any other country.

9. The Commonwealth of Independent States or CIS is a group of Central Asian republics that were help unify the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and other central Asian and eastern European nations.

10. North Korea, South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, and other East Asian, Southeast Asian, and South Pacific nations have small and/or weak navies. China lacks carriers and lacks a lot of offensive power. Australia mostly keeps their fleets in the South Pacific regions. Japan has no carriers, but has one of the largest navies in the world with over 50 destroyers and frigates, which gives them a lot of defensive strength. Russia normal keeps their navy around their shores in the northwest Pacific. The US Navy basically dominates almost all the Pacific unopposed.


	14. Chapter 14: Strengthening Ties

If you have read this far into my story then please leave a review. Just go to the bottom of the page and select submit a review. Even if you're not a member of I have made it so that you can leave a review on my story.

I would like to thank the people who own the rights to School Rumble and Bleach for not suing me.

Updated January 12, 2008: Three more chapters to edit before I get back to writing chapter 31. I'm not sure that chapter 14 came out the way I wanted them to.

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**Chapter 14: Strengthening Ties**

"When the metal meet the meat

Each other is all you got"

A scene from the movie We Were Soldiers

**1341 Hours; June 30****th****, 2010; some town on the Kitan Strait; the Wakayama Prefecture, Japan**

The 27th Infantry Battalion: Dogwood Company, Echo Company, and Foxglove Company, were assembled in a town east of the city of Osaka on the edge of the Kitan Strait which separated Awaji Island and Honshu.

Joining them was Item Company of the US 3rd Marine Battalion and Kite Company of the Japanese 8th Marine Battalion. Due to weather reports of a storm coming out of the Pacific and heading west into the Seto Inland Sea, Operation: Red Water would have to be pushed ahead of schedule from July 1st instead of the 2nd.

Unfortunately, on such short notice only 12 of the 16 hovercraft and 32 of the 40 MH-53EJ Super Stallions were ready for the operation. They were promised, however, that two companies of German artillery and one company of rocket artillery was available plus a few squadrons of German fighters and fighter-bombers. In addition USMC aviators and the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces were also going to support the attack.

Major Daijin in a school lecture hall of an abandoned town and was giving her officers and NCOs (non-commissioned officers) a final briefing on the operation before it was launched tomorrow. "Command is worried that the flotation aids won't keep our Type 73 APCs from capsizing in a storm so we have to go before the storm hits Japan."

"Why not after?" asked a Lieutenant in Hollow Company.

"We don't know how long it will take for the storm to pass or how long it will take for the currents it will stir up to die down, so command would prefer now over later."

"What about our support from the Germany Army?" asked Captain Watsuki Shin, leader of Foxglove Company.

"They have two companies of their Panzerhaubitze 2000s and one company of their Mars (1) rocket launchers. The Panzerhaubitze firers a 155mm shell about 30km and is pretty accurate. The Mars firers about 12 unguided missiles over a range of about 300km, but they're not as accurate. For air support the Maritime Forces will have the Shimokita amphibious assault ship and the destroyers Shirane and Kurama of the 2nd Escort Fleet off shore. In addition the Luftwaffe has an air battalion of Tornado IDS fighter-bombers ready to support our attack," Major Daijin was listing all the support for the operation.

"But ma'am… its great and all that NATO is giving us all this support, but we can't speak German," said a sergeant in Dogwood Company.

"That may be true, but my squad's radioman has been learning a little German and I read that many communication crews are expected to learn English. We have people that can speak English," said Asou. Everyone turned to stare at the Staff Sergeant in surprise.

"Well… it's true," he said a little defensively. "And maybe some of the American Marines speak German."

Major Daijin smiled a little at the sergeant, impressed by his little speech. 'Still, these language barriers and supply and all the other problems would be so much easier if we were better trained to work with NATO soldiers,' she thought.

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**1315 Hours Hours; June 29****th****, 2010; the Prime Minister's Office; Tokyo, Japan**

Japanese Prime Minister Aokami was waiting by his phone in his office. He and the Diet (2) had agreed on a motion to apply to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). He'd sent their request to NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium and he was now waiting for a response. He knew that joining NATO would mean that Japan would have to take a much more active roll in global conflicts than they had done in the past, but being in NATO would mean that the Americans and European Union cannot turn tail and run. It would also give his nation a lot more voice in how the defense of his nation would be conducted, cut a lot of red tape, and maybe even give the Japanese Self-Defense Forces better equipment from they allies. Really, joining NATO at this point could only improve the current situation.

The problem was that NATO may reject Japan's request. Traditionally only European and North American nations joined, plus the fact Japan was at war would mean that the rest of NATO would have to send soldiers they weren't willing to commit.

His phone rang making him jump. The snapped the phone up and answered nervously, "Mushi, Mushi (hello)?"

"Hello?" asked a voice in English with a German accent.

"This is Prime Minister Aokami, who may I asked is calling?"

"This is General Erwin Kautz, North Atlantic Treaty Organization Committee General."

"Yes?" Aokami asked half hopeful, half dreading.

"Most nations of NATO agreed that letting Japan in would mean a lot of hardship for us," General Kautz told the Prime Minister.

"I see, thank you," he said disappoint.

"But, despite that we agreed that it would be beneficial in the long run to have a member in that area of the world."

"Uh… thank you, I will inform my ministers immediately."

In his office in Brussels, German General/NATO Committee General Erwin Kautz set down his phone. 'The world sure has change,' he thought. In the past, NATO was only North American and European nations and only the Americans sat on the Committee with a couple of British. Now Germans, Turks, and Canadians were sitting not only sitting on the Committee; last few Committee Commanders had even been Germans. And now a nation as far away from Europe as possible was joining.

He'd meant what he said. Sending more German, British, Canadian, Turkish, French, and American soldiers to Japan and now Italian, Greek, Belgian, Dutch, Albanian, Austrian and Danish soldiers too, would be a hardship and upset a lot of people. But, with the Japanese as a member, they would have a much greater presence in the Pacific. The world was stable at the moment, but if the peace didn't last, Japan could provide a useful ally in the Far East. In the past the only allies in that area of the world had been the Republic of China (Taiwan), Republic of (South) Korean and the Federation of Japan, all other nations were either neutral, only occasionally helped NATO, or sided with the Soviets.

Kautz put picked up some paper work and began to review it. It was about the equipment and numbers of the Japanese Federal Self-Defense Forces. They had over 50 surface ships in the Maritime Forces, larger than the most the NATO navies.

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**1000 Hours; June 30****h****, 2010; a conference room, Japanese Federal Self-Defense Forces Central HQ, Tokyo Prefecture; Tokyo, Federation of Japan**

The NATO commanders had assembled in a conference room in the Japanese Self-Defense Forces Central Headquarters in Tokyo. This particular room hadn't been used in over a year and despite cleaning crews' best efforts, the room still had a dusty unused smell. On the bright side, the room wasn't being used for anything, was well equipped for meetings and briefings and was now designated NATO's Far East HQ. New facilities were being built in Tokyo and the neighboring port city Yokohama.

It was a very spacious room with a dark blue carpet, white walls and ceilings, a few long tables in the middle, and a large monitor and platform stood at one end of the room. On the walls were the United States of America's star spangled banner, the United Kingdom's Union Jack, the Royal Canadian Commonwealth's maple leaf flag, the Republic of France's blue, white, and red flag, the Federal Republic of Germany's black, yellow, and red flag, and the Republic of Turkey's crescent moon and star flag. Additional space was left for the flags of the Kingdom of Belgium, the Republic of Austria, the Italian Republic, the Hellenic Republic (Greece), the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Holland), and recent member of NATO, the Republic of Albania.

The Japanese white flag with the red circle, which represented the rising sun, hung on the wall with her new allies. Above the monitor hung the navy blue flag with a large white compass rose, it hung proudly above all other flags in the room, which as natural since it was the flag of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Commanders of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, the German, British, Canadian, French, and Turkish Expeditionary Forces, and the US's Western Pacific Group sat around the tables in the room. They were preparing to discuss Japan's entry into NATO and hoping to straighten out how the war would be conducted. The Generals and Admirals who didn't speak English had headphones on to which as translator would speak into.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, let us be the first to welcome you to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization," said General O'Grady.

There was a pause while the some of the Japanese commanders waited for the translation before they thanked General O'Grady.

"About your military, since your command structure is based off the US's, there shouldn't be any problems there. You should have your soldiers become familiar with NATO uniforms, ranks, ships, vehicles, tanks, planes, and equipment. It would also be encouraged that you soldiers can recognize Warsaw Pack (3) equipment too. We have pamphlets on all that that we can give to your soldiers once it's translated into your language. Having people that can speak English is very important to avoid communication barriers, like the one's that our plaguing our soldiers now," he said. The Japanese nodded.

"Also, as a member of NATO, it is expected that you share some of your bases with your fellow members in times of crisis. Also we feel it would be best that the US continue taking command of the situation here," he said. "I think that will cover the basics for now. We'll just hand you these to read over."

US soldiers handed handbooks and binders with the NATO insignia on the covers. They were all in Romanji (Latin characters) so that they could use the exact spellings of non-Japanese words instead of using rough translations with katakana, hiragana, and kanji.

As the Americans, Canadians, and Europeans were getting up to leave, Admiral Mizuryū Chidori commander of the Japanese Federal Maritime Self-Defense Forces spoke up, "Hold on a second, we have a few things we'd like to say too."

The American, Canadians, and EU (European Union) looked up in surprised; they didn't expect the Japanese to have anything to say, but Admiral Mizuryū was determined to make sure that the other NATO member didn't walked all over 'the new guys on the block'.

"We first, would like to remind you that this is **our** country," she said as they sat down still looking shocked. "We expect you to respect your hosts. We understand and accept that the US is more experienced and were willing to follow your lead. But, we feel our forces could use access to some NATO equipment for our own use."

"Like?" asked a British General.

"We have a large fleet of aging UH-1 Hueys. We would like it if the US would provide better models like the SH-60 Sea Hawk, we have some, but we could use more. Our government is willing to pay for these helicopters, but we need them made available to our nation. In addition we our conducting an amphibious operation tomorrow and my collogues in the Ground Forces says their troops lack the proper amphibious transport. In fact, we have a list of equipment we feel could improve the performance of our forces," she said handing General O'Grady a list in English for him. It listed a piece of equipment, the nation that makes it, and what purpose the Japanese wanted it for. It was well laid out and seemed reasonable to O'Grady's perspective, but he knew the political red tape would delay these requests until either the equipment of obsolete or the Japanese built their own.

"Also, the Maritime Forces our thinking of building an aircraft carrier," said Admiral Mizuryū. The other Maritime Forces officers nodded. Mizuryū pressed a few keys on a laptop and the schematics of an aircraft carrier that looked just like the future CVN-21 aircraft carrier. Like the CVN-21 it had an angled flight-deck, two sets of twin catapults to launch planes, structures and elevators to the sides, three Mk. 29 Sea Sparrow SAMs, and four 20mm Phalanx gatling guns. The differences were that the carrier was larger than the CVN-21, held more aircraft and had a more advance CIC (command information control). The title at the top said it was called the Sutsuru (Crane's Nest) Class aircraft carrier.

"As you can see, this will be a larger carrier than yours since we're only going to build one for now. We also intend to make this flagship of our navy and made sure that it has adequate equipment to command an entire fleet, which is what the CIC is for," added Admiral Mizuryū. "We would like the US's help in building this carrier since we currently lack the facilities to build a carrier and the US has built numerous carriers over the years. We have more warship designs, but we'll hold off on that for now."

O'Grady turned to face Admiral Samuel Benson, who was the commander of the US 7th Fleet and bore a striking resemblance to Colin Powell; complete with the glasses. O'Grady looked to him for an answer to the Japanese request. Benson's fleet had been assigned to Japan since the end of World War II; he had been in command for the last decade he knew the Japanese Maritime Forces wants and needs like the back of his hand.

"Well?" whispered O'Grady.

"Well, it would benefit both them and us. We'll have to hammer out the details, but we could have it built down at the production yards area Bremerton (6). However, it would give Japan a lot more fighting strength and give them offensive power which could be helpful in the future," Benson whisper back to O'Grady.

O'Grady nodded and turned to face Mizuyryū, "We'll have to talk with our government about that one, but we'll try and make it happen."

"Thank you, that is all we ask."

O'Grady left the conference room noticing that he had more pamphlets than he came in with. He couldn't, but laugh at the irony. He also realized that that was the first time he'd laughed in almost two months, roughly the day the war started.

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**1800 Hours; June 30****th****, 2010, someone's basement/Roanoke Team's HQ; Awaji Island, Japan**

"Yo, Jason, I got an e-mail from Western Pacific SOCOM," said Lt. Colonel Shinhachi to his second-in-command Captain Jason Maiwald.

"So, I get them all the time. They're probably a recruiting e-mail and offering money to join and then go to college again or something," said stirring some soup in his coffee cup.

"Nope, not this time. Apparently the Japanese joined NATO," he said.

"Cool," said Maiwald indifferently.

"Hey, got another e-mail," said Shinhachi.

"If it's that thing about a $1 millions, I think I already won," he said with a sarcastic grin. "Or is it those K&H G-416 carbines we requested back when we were still in Afghanistan?"

"No, but I need to ask about those carbines. It's from my contact in western China."

"Really?" said Maiwald with his first real sign of interest. "Is it in response to our e-mail?" They had sent e-mails to field agents to find anything on the missing Soviet 43rd Armored Division that had deserted the Red Army.

"Yup, they intercepted some kind of memo, but it's in some kind of code."

Maiwald pulled up his chair next to Shinhachi to see the laptops screen better, "Comrades, we will claim Hrothgar's great Heorot and defend it from the monster Grendel… isn't Grendel the monster from Beowulf?"

"Yeah… okay, let's think back to 12th grade English," said Shinhachi.

Maiwald rubbed his chin and said, "Hrothgar was a Danish king… and Heorot was a mead hall he built. The greatest mead hall ever, right?"

"Yeah…," said Shinhachi thinking back to what he was taught in high school. "Yeah, and Grendel was the monster who came because the noise from the celebrations of Heorot's completion disturbed him. But Grendel lust for blood couldn't be satisfied and he continued to attack. He was supposed to be mankind's enemy."

"So, we're Grendel?" asked Maiwald.

"No… I think the EU is Grendel, cause after Beowulf killed Grendel, Grendel's mother attacked Beowulf," he said.

"So we're the mother of the enemy of mankind? Well, knowing the older generation Soviet's, that would be right. Heh, who would have thought reading Beowulf would be important?" Maiwald said with a snort.

"What? You didn't believe Ms. Brigitte when she said that it would very important in the future?" Shinhachi asked with a grin. Maiwald laughed at the memory of their old English teacher lecturing then on the importance of literature. That was a few weeks before they graduated high school and then signed on to the military to pay for college. They been e-mailing their school work to their professors when the war started, which had been hard because being in the Delta Force and fighting in the middle of nowhere they didn't always have access to the internet. Of course being June, school wasn't in and wouldn't start until early September.

"You remember how bad the movie was?"

"Yeah, probably the worst fucking movie we ever saw."

"So let's recap, they are going to protect Heorot, which is probably Moscow or maybe even all of USSR. Hrothgar is probably one of the old Stalinists (4), maybe Stalin himself. Grendel is probably something to due with NATO and they are going to claim Heorot to protect it from us… that sounds like it add up to a coup d'état (5)," Maiwald realizing the magnitude of the situation.

"We have no concrete proof," said Shinhachi slowly. "But, hopefully they value our opinions enough to investigate."

Shinhachi sent an e-mail with their conclusions to the analytical division in Washington DC.

"I hope they can settle this business… so what about tomorrow?" asked Maiwald.

"Well, I sent Johnson's and Hernandez's teams to check on the Commie's movements, but they don't seem to suspect anything," said Shinhachi.

"So everything goes as planned. We clear out enemy communications, disrupted their movements, and then link up with the Japanese?"

"Yup."

They sat discussing things that could go wrong when Operation: Red Water was launched and how to avoid disaster.

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**2219 Hours; June 30****th****, 2010; assemble area for Operation: Red Water; Wakayama Prefecture, Japan**

Asou was reading the Li's Family Guide to Survival. Although the book wasn't meant a military handbook, it did provide useful information on how to use the terrain for cover and concealment, and how number of techniques on how to identify traps and how to set his own.

They were inside a school that had been abandoned when the North Koreans landed across the strait. Everyone had been ordered to keep a low profile and stay indoors so not to alert the PKA that they were in the vicinity. 5th squad had cleared the desks and chairs in a classroom and rolled out compact military issue sleeping bags. They all had checked to weapons to ensure they were in working order and wouldn't jam in battle. Now some of the soldiers were either sleeping or doing some quiet activity.

Kaoji had found that the computer left at the teacher's desk still had internet access. He was checking current event. "Hey," he called out.

Harima, Hanai, Ikuro, Kurosaki, and Ishida, the only other people awake other than Asou, look up.

"It says that we're part of NATO now," he said.

"So what does that do for us?" asked Harima.

"It would mean that the Americans and Europeans can't back out of the war and are obligated to defend fellow NATO members," said Ishida knowledgeably. "Plus, it would eliminate many of the coordination problems that have been plaguing us since the war started. Also we might be able to get all kinds of equipment that isn't normally available to us."

"Mmm… that would be nice," said Hanai, thinking about how they had to relay on NATO support.

"Hai, but that won't help us tomorrow," said Asou. "Let's get some sleep."

They climbed into their bags and slowly went to sleep.

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Well, I'm tired and I don't have a lot to say for now. Please review; it's all I ask of you.

Updated January 12, 2008: Almost done. Three more to go.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. The Mars is the name the Germans call the M270 MLRS self-propelled rocket artillery.

2. I think I forgot to say this before, but the Diet is the name of the Japanese Parliament.

3. The Warsaw Pack was an alliance lead by the Soviet Union, consisting of the Eastern European nations and some of Central Asia and closely allied with East Asian nations like China. They were NATO's main opponent during the Cold War.

4. A Stalinist is someone who follows the ideals and concepts of the second premier of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin. If you care the real leaders of the USSR were Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Georgy Malenkov, Nikita Khrushchev, Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, Konstantin Chernenko, and Mikhail Gorbachev, all in that order (some were not premiers, but held similar ranks).

5. A coup d'état (pronounced ku-day-ta) is French for 'a blow to the state'. It is often used in English as a noun meaning a revolt or more specifically a mutiny. It often is a group of government officials or soldiers overthrowing the government leaders and taking it for them self's. People often say coup for short.

6. Bremerton which is across the inland sea from Seattle and Tacoma. It's home of the Puget Sound Navel Yard, a major construction yard of US warships and houses a large submarine pen.


	15. Chapter 15: Island Thunder Part I

Well here we go, back into battle, or at least as close to it as I can describe. I don't own School Rumble or Bleach or any weapon, vehicle, or company mentioned in this story. I do own the laptop I'm typing this story on and the books I bought to use for reference on military equipment and warfare.

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**Chapter 15: Island Thunder Part I**

"Well you know what they say in the army

The few the proud"

"… that's the Marines"

A scene from Delta Farce

**0900 Hours; June 30****th****, 2010; SOCOM offices in the Pentagon; Arlington, Virginia; United States of America**

A Pentagon intelligence analyst was looking over an e-mail from a Delta Force officer in Japan. The e-mail was something about a possible coup in USSR and the warrant officer wasn't sure whether to spend time and money on this or not.

"Captain, what do you make of this?" he said his superior.

"Uh… don't know," said the captain. "What can you tell me about this the guy who sent it? Is he reliable?"

The warrant officer, who was analyzing the documents, now was pulling up the file of the sender.

"Uh… his name is John Saito Shinhachi, he's a Lt. Colonel in Delta. Age 20, born June 17th, 1990 in Kirkland, Washington, he attended a school for student with learning disabilities in Seattle, Washington," said the warrant officer reading the file on his computer screen. "He is a rising sophomore at Seattle University, his grades are…"

"We have his grades?" asked the captain.

"Yes sir, he signed on to pay for college, so the military has access to his grades to make sure he is studying."

"And the grades are?"

"He averages a 3.7 GPD (grade point averages). Although he has only finished his first year, he has declared a major in Far East studies and Eastern European studies. He's also going for a minor in Military History, Psychology, and Sociology. He originally signed onto the Army Airborne with his best friend and trained with the 101st Airborne Division, but he and his best friend were both transferred to into Delta's assault corps (1). He was trained in the special airborne training grounds in North Carolina, and then sent to Albania for training, and later to Korea and Japan. He was specially trained to fight in the Balkan Peninsula and Eastern Asia and to understand the regional culture and politics. He saw action Afghanistan in counter-insurgency missions. He is not really a full-time soldier, only active for wartime purposes or emergencies, but he his consider a reliable source of information and an expert on Eastern Europe and Eastern Asia. He also his sent intelligence to analyze when he isn't on the assignment."

"And the captain with him?"

"Just a minute… Jason Erich Maiwald, a Captain in the same unit as Shinhachi. Age 20, born June 18th, 1990 in Denver, Colorado. Move to Kirkland, Washington when he was 4 and attend the same school and now the same college as Shinhachi. They have been close friends for years and operate very well together. He has declared a major in Aero-Space Engineering and Physics and a minor in Calculus, Central European and Eastern European studies."

"So we can trust they didn't make a lot of guesses on this document?" asked the captain.

"Yes sir."

"Okay, let's start to look into it."

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**0650 Hours; July 2****nd****, 2010; The Katin Strait; Wakayama Prefecture, Japan**

The 27th Infantry Battalion and 28th Armor Battalion were ready to roll. Echo Company was gathered around their APCs, flotation aids had already been added on and they were just waiting for the signal to deploy. It was deployment day of Operation: Red Water.

The weather was humid and stuffy, the kind of weather that warned of an approaching storm. A damp breeze was blowing westward occasionally and towards the east. They could see dark storm clouds coming in from the Pacific Ocean

"Oi! Mount up!" shouted Echo's CO(commanding officer).

Soldiers hunched down, stepped across the ramp, and into the Type 73 APCs in groups of 8. Asou sat down on a bench inside an APC with his command team, on the bench opposite of him was the engineer team. Following them in a second APC, was 5th squad's fire team and assault team, all were quietly sitting. They listened to a pop song that the driver was playing from a small radio that was duct taped next to him.

It was very quiet, the veterans knew what could be waiting ahead and the replacements didn't have the nerve to break the silence. The only sound was the creek and clank of the APCs, the hum of the hovercraft, and the beats of choppers.

There was a lurch and the APC started to undulate, telling them that they were now in the water and had now started to make their long journey across the Katin Strait.

Harima opened one of the top hatches, stuck his head outside, and looked around. His hair fluttered a little in the wind blowing coming from the east. Harima wasn't thrilled by the size of the waves, but they weren't big enough to capsize the APCs. He looked back at the town they had left. He looked around at the numerous APCs slowly, but determinedly steaming forwards leaving large wakes behind. In the distance, roughly 9.5km away, was Awaji Island. Even though it was part of Japan, there was something intimidating about it; probably because they knew it was occupied by the PKA.

"Nice view," said Kurosaki. He closed his eyes and let the wind blow his short orange around; he smiled a little, enjoying the fresh air.

"You checked your gun?" asked Harima.

"Kenji, I'm ready as you can make me," said Kurosaki flatly.

"Kenji?"

"I don't bother much with formalities. Call me Ichigo if you want."

"Ichigo (strawberry)? Like the fruit?"

"No, I use different Kanji characters (2), in my case it means one who protects," he said. "My mother named me."

Harima noted his face darken when he mentioned his mother. "Is she dead?"

Kurosaki eyes widen for a second, but he regained his composure and nodded. "She was walking me home, it was raining, a driver on the street lost control of his car, and…"

Harima nodded. "Gomen (sorry)."

"Don't be. There isn't anything we can do now, it took me years, but I learned to move on… so what happens now?"

Harima pointed to Awaji Island. "We do our job. If we're careful, we shouldn't lose people needlessly and no civilians will be hurt."

"Civilians? I thought Awaji was evacuated."

"Maybe, but we attacked a place once… thinking no innocent people… were in the way… and we… killed them."

Kurosaki didn't know what to say and just stayed silent. "It wasn't on purpose, but in an attack things get confused. You aren't given a lot of time to figure out who is an enemy and who isn't."

"Yeah, that about sums it up," said Hanai who'd opened a second hatch to join Harima and enjoy the breeze.

They were silent for a while; they listened to the whistling of the wind and the hum of the propellers pushing them along. Jupei joined them; she sat on the edge of an open hatch with her legs dangling inside the APC. She removed her helmet, untied a ribbon that kept her long light brown hair in a bun so it wouldn't get in her way (3). It unfurled like a flag and she let it whipped around in the wind.

"I think we're half way there," she said quietly. Hanai check his watch. They started their journey about half an hour ago, it was about a 10km trip across the Katin Strait, and the Type 73 had an average water speed of 9km/h, doing the math in his head she appeared they were roughly at the half way point.

"I wish it didn't take so long. The wait is so unnerving," said Harima.

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**0700 Hours; July 2****nd****, 2010; a small town on near the Kitan Strait, Awaji Island; ****Hyōgo Prefecture, Federation of ****Japan**

A PKA paratrooper was patrolling along a road in a small town near the shore. He was tired and bored because he'd been patrolling this same stretch of road all night. He muttered curses under his breath about how nothing was going to ever happen.

He walked pass stretch of hedges. He heard a rustling sound behind him. Suddenly, something was strangling him. Things were getting darker and darker.

"Scratch a hostile, all is clear," said the man in English who just strangled the North Korean with a piece of piano wire. He pulled the dead soldier into the hedges.

Once the body was hidden, a small team of 4 soldiers snuck across the road, ducking down between alleys. They approached from one alley, a police box (4) that the PKA were using as a communication depot. Outside were a couple of guards and inside were a few communication technicians.

"That police box is small. Basically a death trap," said a Hispanic 2nd lieutenant to his team. "Roanoke 3-3, you put a rocket in that building. Rest of you, pick a tango (5) and shoot 'em."

The soldier called Roanoke 3-3, a tall black man, mounted an AT4 on his shoulder. He released the safety and adjusted the weapons sights, and prepared to fire. He swung his body around the corner, took aim, and fired an 84mm rocket at the police box.

"Open fire," said the lieutenant calmly into his helmet mounted headset. His soldiers quickly and efficiently leaped into action. In mere seconds the communication depot was destroyed.

"Okay, Team 3, traverse to rally point Juliet."

They made their way down the abandon alleys to avoid detection. They paused at corners and intersection to make sure no PKA soldiers were there patrolling. In a short amount of time they were out of the town and in a forest near by. They reached the end of the forest where they could see a lighthouse on a cliff next to the Strait of Katin.

"Roanoke 3-1 to Roanoke leader, we completed objective 2 and we're at rally point Juliet, standing by," said Roanoke 3-1 quietly into his helmet mounted headset. He crouched low into the bushes because a North Korean on the lighthouse's observation deck was scanning the tree line and sea.

"Rodger that, good work Hernandez," said the voice of Lt. Colonel Shinhachi. "We're on your left, continue as planned."

"Yes, sir," said Hernandez. He took aim at a North Korean standing next to a SA-8 Gecko SAM launcher. He adjusted his laser dot scope and waited for their snipers, Captain Maiwald and 2nd Lieutenant Pierce, to kill the snipers in the lighthouse.

"This 4-1, Target acquired, ready to shoot on your orders Roanoke leader," said a female voice.

"This is 1-2, I have a hostile shooter in my sights," said Captain Maiwald.

There was a pause and then, "Take your shots."

A North Korean with a Dragunov SVD semi-auto sniper rifle was standing on the deck that lined the top floor of the lighthouse. There was an echoing bang and the PKA sniper's knees buckled and he fell over the edge of the catwalk. A second sniper standing by a window inside the lighthouse only had enough time to grab his rifle before a second shot killed him.

The North Koreans fired wild bursts of automatic weapons fire into the trees while Roanoke Platoon fired single, accurate shots at the North Koreans. The PKA didn't know that Roanoke Platoon was spread out and firing from the prone position which meant all their outgoing fire was high.

"2-3, get a rocket on the Gecko on the left. 3-3, take the one on the right. Once you shoot reposition because the contrails will allow the enemy to zero in on you," ordered Shinhachi.

"On it, sir," 2-3 and 3-3 responded. Two 84mm rockets flew out from the tree line and destroyed the SAM launchers. Once he fired, he moved stealthily down the tree line.

"Tangos are trying to flank us on our left," said Roanoke 5-1.

"Rodger 5-1, Team 4, reposition to our left flank and engage from behind that fallen tree, over," ordered Shinhachi.

Team 4 moved from there position from the center to the left. 4-2 set up his M60E3 light machine gun on a fallen tree and fired short, accurate bursts of NATO 7.62x51mm rounds. 4-4 fired a frag grenade from her M203 grenade launcher that was mounted on her M4A1 carbine. It hit a KPA soldier in the head, blasting it to pieces and plastering the trees with blood and brain matter. The PKA soldiers retreated as 5.52x45mm, 9x19mm, and 7.62x51mm rounds battered them, plus the 12.7x99mm rounds from Maiwald Barrett M82A1A and Pierce's SIG G-3000 bolt-action sniper rifle.

"RPG! Second window, light house!" shouted Roanoke 3-2.

A rocket flew from the light house and into the trees.

"Man down! Man down! 2-4 was hit!"

"What's his status?!" demanded Shinhachi.

Roanoke 2-3 ran to his teammate. 2-4 had large cut across his left cheek and blood coming out of his belly from shrapnel wounds. 2-4 ran a hand over his belly; he then held a hand in front of his face. He stared in horror at the large amount of blood dripping from his hand.

Roanoke 2-3 pulled out a pressure bandage and wrapped it over 2-4's belly. He pulled it as tightly as possible to stop the bleeding. He cleaned 2-4's cheek and placed a bandage on that wound too.

"What's his status?!" repeated Shinhachi more loudly.

"2-3 here, 2-4 is alive, sir. He has a bad belly wound and a moderate face wound. I'm treating him, but we'll have to medi-vac him."

"Rodger, I'll call it in," said Shinhachi. He signaled to his radioman and the radioman changed the communication channel. "This is Roanoke leader, I'm requesting an e-vac (emergency evacuation) for one of my men. We're at lighthouse #3 of the Katin Strait, over."

"This is Star 4-3 Rodger Roanoke leader, medi-vac ETA is 2 minutes."

Shinhachi scanned the area around him. He saw that the PKA's left flank was weakening and they were falling back on their right flank. "Team 1 and Team 4, covering fire. All other units move to our right flank, the enemy's left is crumbling. Push the advantage."

2-1 tossed a smoke grenade. Once the smoke was billowing out, they advanced across the open ground while Team 1 and 4 drew the PKA's attention. Using the destroyed SAM launchers for cover, Team 5 fired away and sent the PKA in full treat.

"Sir, I think they're gonna launch a counter-attack," said 2-1.

"I copy, get down, wait for the enemy to get in the open and then will hose them."

The surviving PKA charge with bayonets mounted on their old AK-47s (6). They met no opposition. Confused the North Koreans slowed to a stop in the open, looking around and wondering why they weren't being fired upon.

"All units, engage, engage," ordered Shinhachi.

The PKA soldiers were cut to shreds by a wall of steel jacketed ammo and a few super magnums from sniper rifles.

"All's clear, sir."

"Rodger, objective 4 has been complete. All units proceed with objective 5," ordered Shinhachi.

Team 2 made their way up the light house while the others prepped the remaining SAMs for destruction. They removed equipment from their packs and set it up in the top of the light house. They assembled it and hooked it up to a military issued laptop.

"Jammer ready to go in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and go," said 2-2 who was operating the ECM (electronic counter measures). "EMP (electromagnetic pulse) Jammer is online, hostile wireless communications are disrupted. Our channels of communication are still up."

"Good work everybody. Medi-vac is inbound. All units hold until the main force links up with us. Then well clear out mortars to the north."

After a few seconds after setting up the EMP jammer an MH-6 Little Bird of the 160th SOAR (special operation air regiment) flew in to collect the wounded soldier. Roanoke platoon placed him on a stretcher on one of the benches of the small helicopter and then strapped him down so he wouldn't fall off. The Little Bird raced off to a 8063rd MASH (mobile army surgical hospital) Regiment that was stationed across the strait.

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**0810 Hours; July 2****nd****, 2010; the eastern shore of Awaji Island; ****Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan**

They were approaching the shores of Awaji Island. As they got closer they could hear the sound of a helicopter. A US Little Bird flew low over their heads heading back towards Honshu. Hanai thought he could see a man on a stretcher on the Little Bird.

"Who are they?" asked Kitsumori.

"Don't know, they're Americans and the chopper said 'Night Stalkers' on the waist… whatever that means," said Kurosaki.

"We're getting close now, so we'd better get back inside," said Hanai.

"Hai," they responded. They got back inside the Type 73 APC and closed the hatches above them.

Meanwhile, Asou in his APC turned to face the driver. "What's our ETA?"

"About 2 minutes, sir" said the driver.

"All armored personal carriers prepare to lay down smokes," said a voice over the radio. The driver pressed a button to arm the smoke dischargers.

"60 seconds," shouted the driver. Everyone inside loaded their weapons and chambered a round.

"30 seconds, firing smokes." They heard the APC fire 6 shots off from the 6 smoke dischargers mounted on the rear of the APC. Although they couldn't see outside, they knew that volley of smoke grenades were fired into the air and were now arcing down towards the ground where they would create a smoke screen.

"10 seconds, good luck to you all."

Asou griped his Type 89 assault rifle tightly, he flicked the fire select mode from safety to 3 round burst and held the gun against his chest; he was ready to storm out of the APC.

"5, 4,3,2,1, clear the ramp!" The rear of the APC lowered and they could see the outside. Asou briefly looked at the strait and the other APCs emerging out of the wall of white smoke. Asou charged out of the APC. He was running in a crouching position to keep low and avoid any incoming fire, but no one seemed to be defeating the beach. 5th squad followed behind him in a similar fashion as Asou. The beach was only about 400m; the beach was followed by a green field of tall grass. At the end of the field was a forest. To their right, about 900m away, was a light house.

"Is that a green smoke?" asked Asou pointing in the direction of the light house.

Ishida raised his M21, pointed it towards the light house, and peered through the x8 zoom scope. "Hai, it is. There're also some destroyed SAMs, probably the US's work."

"Right. Well, we need to move inland and secure that field," Asou said pointing to the field beyond the beach. Asou waved his squad to spread out in a line with the rest of 2nd platoon; on his left was 4th squad and on his right was 6th squad. They slowly approached the field and then cautiously crouched/walked across the field to the tree-line.

There was no movement from the trees. Iruko was signaled by Asou to take the lead. Asou moved his team to the left, keeping on eye out for flanking enemies.

"Ow!" Abarai tripped over something and looked down at it. "What the fuck?!"

He'd tripped over the corpse of a PKA paratrooper. The PKA paratrooper's eyes were empty, staring straight towards the sky. There were three well placed shots, two in his chest and one in the head. Abarai and the other replacements stared opened mouthed, transfixed at the sight of someone who'd been killed and not sure of what to do. The veterans observed, noting the uniform he wore and how he'd been killed rather than the fact that he was dead.

"Kaoji, get me the captain," Asou said. Kaoji tweaked the radio a bit and handed the transmitter to Asou. "Echo Leader this is Echo 5-1, we've found a dead PKA soldier, and he appears to be a paratrooper. It looks like someone cleared these woods before us."

"Acknowledged, 5-1, we'll mark the LZ now, Echo Leader over and out."

Asou signaled his squad to form up on him. He lead them out of the woods and back into the field. Other squad emerged from the woods after finding nothing, but signs that someone cleared the area first.

"Oi, Hanai," shout a voice. Hanai looked and to his surprise he saw Suō and Ichijo. They both had private rank insignias on their sleeves. Their marine unit was part of the attack, in fact it occurred to Hanai that Sagano and Yūki were both probably on warships off shore somewhere.

"So, Hanai, not much happened, eh?" said Suō.

"For now at least," he said to her while watching MH-53EJs bringing in Type 89 IFVs and HMMWVs. "Someone cleared the area before us so we could land safely, but there will be fighting head."

They watched the as Type 89 IFVs, Type 73 APCs, Type 74 medium tanks, and Type 90 heavy tanks assembled in formation as hovercraft and choppers brought them in.

"Well, nice seeing you, but have a job to do," said Asou signaling to his squad to follow him 27th Infantry Battalion's rallying point. They walked towards 2nd Lt. Hashigawa, leader of 2nd platoon and assembled with the rest of the platoon.

* * *

Updated January 12, 2008: Mmmm, for some reason I didn't leave any notes when I first posted this. Must have not felt like it. Two more chapters to edit and then I can post chapter 31… after I write it of course. 

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. Not a lot is known about Delta's inner workings because the military wants to keep it a secret, but from what I've heard they have a covert warfare unit that operates in small teams and an assault unit that operates in larger teams and serve in open warfare on the battlefield as a sort of guerrilla warfare unit. No one really knows what the covert unit does.

2. I own a Kanji Dictionary and I can tell you that all, but a few characters have 2 or 3 different ways it can be interpreted for instance the character for the number 8 can be read as 'hachi' or 'ya.' They also can have multiple meanings. Also there are words that have multiple different characters. For instance the word 'shin' has about 14 different characters that are pronounce as 'shin' and they all have different meanings such as: heart, truth, or spirit. Animes and mangas often makes jokes using Kanji characters, but they don't translate into English well because most people who don't speak Japanese or read Kanji don't get these jokes; which is understandable.

3. In the military, soldiers have to keep their hair a current length for the reasons of practicality. Women are allowed to keep their hair longer than men, but it's hardly reaches the neck from what I've seen. I think women are allowed to keep their hair even longer if they keep it tied up, but I'm not sure.

4. In Japan they have small buildings that people call police boxes. They are usually manned by 1 or 2 officers and they serve as a substation to serve a small local area. It would be a rough equivalent of a sheriff substation in the US.

5. Tango is a dance style, but in this case it's a term used meaning enemy infantry. Similar military terms used by the US include: contact, hostile, tango, target, and unfriendly.

6. The AK-47 is a decent gun, but it's obsolete. Much better models have long since replaced the AK-47 in most countries. Only a handful of militaries and a lot of militias, terrorists, and organized crime groups still use the AK-47, such as North Korea. Most nations use American Colt M-16s, German H&K G-3s and G-36s, British Enfield L85s, French FAMASs, Austrian Steyr AUGs, Russian AK-74s, and a long list of other guns.


	16. Chapter 16: Island Thunder Part II

Well another chapter is up. Please review, I start to lose steam after a while and then I get stuck because I start to think no one cares. It's just that I spend hours looking up information on weapons, thinking of characters, battles, poring over maps and atlases, trying to keep information accurate, trying to keep the information I make up to sound convincing, and a whole lot of shit that takes about 6 to 8 hours to write a draft for a chapter and then about an hour to proofread. I have written about 17 chapters so if you consider the amount of time I spend on this story, it doesn't seem like asking a lot for you to spend a minute or so of your day leaving some kind of comment or statement.

I don't own School Rumble or Bleach.

Updated January 12, 2008: One more chapter to edit after this one. Almost there. Actually I think I'll finish tonight and maybe have the next chapter up somewhere like Monday or Tuesday.

* * *

**Chapter 16: Island Thunder Part II**

"Well you know what they say in the army

Be all you can be"

"Hey, he got it right"

Another scene from Delta Farce

**1049 Hours; June 2****nd****, 2010; People's Liberation Army HQ; Beijing, People's Republic of China**

A group of Chinese Generals were examining an electronic map that was in the middle of a large war room. The room was filled with monitors, radios, and computers, the sounds of ringing phones, PLA soldiers talking with units all around China, Korea, and southern Japan, and other tasks to keep their commanders undated.

"Lt. General Zhanghe requests more navel cover," said General Chen, pointing to the ports of Kitakyushu and Shimonoseki that the PLA and PKA were the primary ports being used to supply their soldiers.

General Xiao shook his head, "That will be up to the Navy, it's not our decision to make. Besides that won't do him any good, did you all see what the US did at the port of Kitakyushu?"

No one spoke, they didn't want to relive the images and footage of US F-18E Super Hornets and Oliver Perry Class frigates jumping their supply ships, drawing out their fleet, and catching them in an ambush. Then US Air Force F-15C Eagles and F-22 Raptors destroyed their fixed wing air support. To top it off the US Navy Spruance Class and Arleigh Burke Class destroyers along with Ticonderoga Class Aegis cruisers, Los Angeles Class attack submarines, and Nimitz Class aircraft carriers blew their fleet out of the Sea of Japan.

"What do we do? At this rate we won't be able to supply our troops by the sea," said General Huang hopelessly.

"The People's Liberation Air Force will have to sustain the invasion until we can secure the seas," said General Xiao almost scolding.

"Is it possible to knock out Okinawa?" asked General Liu, pointing to an island south of Japan with multiple blue ships, planes, and troops that represented NATO units. "It seems that NATO is sustaining their main navel assault from Okinawa and Yokohama."

General Chen shook his head, "Okinawa is too far away from our airbases, the Navy would have no fixed-wing air support (1) and in the open ocean the odds would favor the NATO and the Japanese. And an attack on Yokohama would mean we'd have to fight through almost all NATO's solders in Japan."

"Speaking of NATO and the Japanese, NATO just added Japan to their ranks. So we can expect the rest of their European Union members to join the war and ones already here to increase their efforts," said General Xiao. The other general inwardly groaned at the idea of all of NATO fighting at once against them, plus their enemies would be under a much more unified command structure.

"We have problem's enough, NATO's plan is undoubtedly to control the seas and starve us in Japan," said General Chen.

"Why couldn't we have stopped at Korea?" asked General Huang placing his face in his hands.

"Because the Americans would have never tolerated us liberating Korea right out from under them," said General Xiao with a smug grin.

"But it seems it was obvious that the invasion of Japan would end in our defeat. We can't compete with the shear size, strength, and overall supremacy of the US Navy along with the size of the Japanese Maritime Forces. I think the British have some of their Navy in the area too. The Soviet's seemed to know that and I'm sure that is why they didn't join us in the attack," said General Chen.

"Speaking of those Russians, what are they doing?" General Liu. Everyone shrugged or shook their heads to indicate that they didn't know.

"In the mean time, we need to reconsider our invasion of Taiwan and prepare the homeland for attack."

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**0957 Hours; July 2****nd****, 2010; NATO beachhead; Awaji Island, Japan**

2nd platoon was slowly making their way through the woods by their beachhead and LZ. 1st and 3rd platoons were heading down the road with the APCs and tanks of 1st platoon of Hollow Company.

"You see anything?" called out Kurosaki.

"Shhh! Baka (idiot), do you want the enemy to hear you?!" shouted Abarai.

"I was just asking a simple question!" Kurosaki shouted back.

"Baka," Ishida quietly muttered quietly to himself.

Asou shook his head and turn to Harima and Hanai, "Do something, they're being too loud."

They nodded, strolled over to the fighting soldiers, and brought their fists down on their heads.

"What was that for…?!" they both started to yell, but their sentences were cut off when they were put into headlocks by Harima.

"Your being too loud, your going to get us all killed at this rate," Hanai in quiet, but dangerous tone while Harima had Abarai under one arm and Kurosaki under the other. Harima applied a little extra pressure to ensure that they both got the message before releasing them. Abarai and Kurosaki both fell to the ground gasping for air. They glared at each other, but they didn't start fighting.

"Don't mind them," said Ishida to Asou. "They were always fighting like that in school."

Asou shook his head. "It doesn't matter; we can't afford to have internal fighting when we have an enemy to fight."

They continued their march through the trees scanning the ground for booby-traps, the trees for snipers, and the horizon for any general sign of the enemy.

Asou raised his hand and his squad got down on one knee with their weapons at the ready. There was a town ahead and Asou was scanning the area to see how to best approach it. A whistle and Asou turn to see his platoon leader, Lt. Hashigawa, he signaled to Asou to take point. Asou nodded, made a decision, and lead 5th squad out of the trees.

5th squad ran across a street and lined up against a wall that lined someone's house. Asou led his soldiers along the wall, down an alley, across another street, and into another alley. So far there were no sign that the enemy were in the town or in any of the buildings. Then they found a blown up police box and several enemy corpses. This wouldn't have been a problem, but several live PKA paratroopers were inspecting the remains and trying to determine what had happened.

Asou saw this from an alley with his squad behind him. He turned to his squad and signaled with his hands that 20 enemies were around the corner. He signaled to his squad to follow him.

Asou saw that there was no cover that could be reached conveniently by the alley and lead his squad to another alley by going around the block.

"Okay, there is the town square out there," said Asou in a whisper while pointing to what he was talking about. "Hanai, set up behind those big concrete flower pot things. Ikuro, take your team behind that pickup truck. Shimazu, move to Hanai's position and then move across to the opposite side of the square. My guys follow me."

They nodded.

"Okay, go," he said in an urgent whisper.

5th squad ran out across the square. The assault team broke off and reached pickup truck that was only 110m away from the police box. The command and fire teams set up behind various concrete ornaments and benches in the square, and the engineer team reached a low brick wall that divided a restaurant and bookstore.

As Shimazu's team was crossing the street the North Koreans suddenly realized that a squad of Japanese soldiers were setting up firing positions. Ishida took aim and dropped a PKA paratrooper with an RPG-7. The North Koreans opened fire with a fury.

"Shit!" yelled Kurosaki as a bullet ricochet off a building and nearly hit him in the head.

"Fire Team suppress! Kitsumori pin down their left flank!" shouted Asou. Kitsumori fired a burst at PKA paratroopers who were using the remains of the police box as cover.

"Jupei, frag out that police box!" ordered Hanai. Jupei raised her Type 89 assault rifle, angled it so that she could drop a grenade in it, and fired a 40mm fragmentation grenade. She missed by a few meters to the left of the police box. Although she missed the box, she did scare a few PKA soldiers out of the box and they were quickly cut down by Kitsumori. Jupei fired a second grenade and it landed dead in the middle of the box; a spurt of red went into the air along with a scream.

Jupei froze; she stared at the place where her grenade had landed. She heard a zip and felt a burning, stinging sensation across her cheek.

"Jupei! Get down!" shouted Harima.

She dropped to her belly and swiped her cheek with her hand and checked it; there was a small amount of blood on it. She'd stood too long and a PKA paratrooper almost killed her.

Kurosaki fired a grenade from his grenade launcher and into an alley where several enemy paratroopers were setting up a PKM light machine gun on a tripod. Ikuro and her team where firing away from behind the pickup truck because they couldn't raise their heads from behind the truck.

Shimazu was having them problem that his team was better equipped for enemies within 500m and the enemy was about 800m from him, plus gun smoke was from the enemy guns was shrouding the battlefield (2) making it difficult to find exact targets.

"Hey! Who are they?!" shouted Asou pointing to a platoon that appeared from an alley behind the PKA paratroopers. This new platoon was moving fast and the North Koreans didn't see them. Whoever the platoon was, they shot the North Koreans to shreds from their exposed rear.

A few PKA soldiers tried to run, but they were mostly trapped between two forces.

In the distance Asou could hear someone shouting in English, "Cease fire, cease fire!"

Asou signaled to his squad to follow him and he approached the new comers. He recognized the uniforms as American and he also noticed that their green triangle unit patches with a white sword seemed familiar.

"Sergeant McNally, tie those prisoners up and prep them for transport," said a familiar man with a captain rank.

"Yes, Captain Maiwald," said a red haired sergeant. The captain looked up and noticed Asou, he eyes raise in what Asou guessed was a look of recognition.

"It's you guys, that squad from the intersection in Pusan," he said. "Hey, Jack! It's that group of dipsticks we saw in Pusan!"

Lt. Colonel Shinhachi, who was reading a few pieces of paper he'd taken from the PKA soldiers' pockets, walked over to Captain Maiwald. He gave a small smile and nodded. "You dipsticks again, eh? So, how's the operation going?"

Asou shrugged, "So far so good sir, I guess you cleared the area?"

"Hai, and we've been jamming their communications so they don't know you're here yet," Maiwald said proudly.

Hanai looked down at the captive PKA soldiers. "Then who are they, sir?"

"Standard procedure for any military; when you lose contact with an area you send someone to investigate," said Shinhachi with a shrug.

The beating of a chopper rotor was now coming in from the north. At first, Harima thought they were two Black Hawks, but as they got closer he saw a refueling rod extending from the choppers; they were MH-60 Pave Hawks (3). They flew in and circled around the town square.

"Super 5-1, land in the square for prisoner transport," said a radioman.

The Pave Hawk slowly descended in a clearing in the town square. A group of Delta operators lead/dragged the North Koreans that they had captured to the choppers. A soldier on the chopper grabbed PKA soldiers one by one and pulled them on the chopper. The Pave Hawk pulled out once the last of the prisoners and the second one came in for a landing.

"Let's move it people! Get these crates off the Hawk!" shouted a gunner.

Delta operators climbed on the Pave Hawk, opened one of the boxes, and then started unloading. The opened the crates and started to pull out grenades and boxes of ammo.

"Hey, take these," said a solider passing a box with 16 pairs of sunglasses to Ikuro. "There UV sunglasses, they help block out the sun's glare, great for spotting planes on a sunny day, but useless at night."

5th squad accepted the sunglasses, but since the incoming storm was starting to block the sun, they decided they weren't necessary at the moment.

They were walking down the street when they heard the roar of artillery. Everyone hit the dirt, but the shells flew over.

"That must be the German's," Ishida realizing the shells were coming from the north from where the Bundeswehr had set up artillery positions. "They must be supporting other units."

More shells and a few cruise missiles flew over from the northeast. "That must be the 2nd Escort Fleet," said Kaoji.

"But no return fire," said Shimazu.

Shinhachi came up from behind Asou and smacked him over the back of head to get his attention. "You come with us."

"But…" Asou started to say.

Shinhachi was already walking away, but said over his shoulder, "Your platoon leader is busy engaging hostiles holding the road that leads to Sumoto from the beachhead. You have nothing better to do right now. Besides, since were both NATO soldier, I hold authority over you."

"Hai, sir," Asou said. 'This may be a good chance to learn from a better trained soldier.'

5th squad followed the Roanoke platoon out of the small town and into the woods surrounding it.

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**1300 Hours; July 2****nd****, 2010; Yagami Elementary School; Yagami, Japan**

"Li-san, what is the answer to this problem," asked Watazaki-sensei. Because Mai hadn't been in school for very long she was asked to take summer courses. On the bright side, they ended at 1:10 pm which was nearly three hours earlier than normal.

Mai stared at the chalkboard for a few seconds and said, "X 2 equals 2, then X equals 0."

"Correct."

'Pre-algebra, how boring," Mai thought, she preferred history and PE or shooting a gun. She was good at math, but she never enjoyed the subject. Fortunately, pre-algebra would end in few minutes and was also her last class of the day.

Soon the bell rang and she gathered up her belongings.

"Mai-chan," cried out a girl with jet black hair and dark brown eyes who was walking towards Mai.

"Konnichiwa (good afternoon) Sachi-chan," Mai said to her; Shinhachi Sachiko was the first friend Mai had made on her first day of school and was her best friend too. "How are you?"

Sachiko shrugged, "A little worried, my parents are thinking of sending me to live with family in America."

"Because of the war?" Mai asked as they left the classroom and walked down the hall.

"Hai," Sachiko said dubiously.

"So, what's your uncle and his family like?" asked Mai curiously.

"They kind of workaholics, my uncle works for a US government, my aunt works for a banking firm," she said, "I met one of my cousins, she works for the law firm as a lawyer. I have two other cousins. One is crazy and is in an asylum. The other is my favorite cousin and he's in the US Army."

"Really?" said Mai.

"Yeah, and I also hear them most of them don't spend a lot of time at home. They're all out working… except for my cousin the in Army, he's usually doing paper work at home, but sometimes gets long deployments."

They fell into silence, not really sure how to carry on the conversation.

"So, your… uh… brothers, how are they?"

"I'm not sure, they told me they were going to the front, but they couldn't tell me when. Actually that remind me, I have to take this to Yakumo-sempai," said Mai pulling out a thick paper envelope. Inside was Harima's latest addition to his manga.

Mai and Sachiko both walked to the café where Yakumo worked. Yakumo was dress in the large stuffed animal like bunny costume; she hated how it drew even more stares than her maid costume or kimono.

"Yakumo-sempai, this is from Onii-chan," said Mai handing Yakumo the manuscript. Yakumo did her best to hold it; it wasn't easy because the costume didn't have very good hands for holding objects other than a tray. The first thing she noticed was that Harima had changed the plot so that the main character's love interest was now beyond his reach and he had given her up for her happiness. Then the main character was then sent on a dangerous quest with a group of people to defend a kingdom from an invasion. She always noticed how Harima reflected his real life in his stories.

What particularly interested her was the main character's acceptance of losing his main love interest to another man and him in search of the right woman. 'Does this mean I have a real chance with him?'

"Yakumo-sempai, did you hear me?" Yakumo looked down at Mai and her friend; she'd spaced out and hadn't heard what Mai had said.

"Um… uh…"

"We said we're going now, so mata (bye)," Mai said waving good-bye and walking out the door.

"Jā, mata" said Yakumo waving to Mai.

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**1125 Hours; July 2****nd****, 2010; a creek bed, hills west of Sumoto;**** Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan**

5th squad and the Roanoke team were in a creek bed eating lunch. They were eating various REMs with like meatloaf, beef stew, and instant ramen noodles in plastic cups (4).

"Lt. Colonel?" Asou said.

"Hai?" Shinhachi said not looking up from a map he was studying while eating an REM marked Tuna.

"Uh, could you tell me the situation?"

"Oh, sure," said Shinhachi spreading the map out in front of Asou. Shinhachi pointed to a circle someone drew in pencil around the beachhead. "Our forces land here, a little out here in the Kitan Strait is a detachment from the 2nd Escort Fleet, over here near the town of Misaki is where the Heer have set up firing positions, and the Luftwaffe is flying sorties out of Wakayama."

"Right," said Asou, behind him, 5th squad nodded.

"The PKAF and PLAF have temporary airbases on Honshu in the west suburbs part of Kobe, the city of Akashi, the city of Sumoto here on Awaji Island, and on Shikoku Island they have more planes Tokushima and between Kitajima and Naruto (5).

Now, as you can see we're caught in between large numbers of Communist fighters, fighter-bombers, bombers, and transports. Right, now they have no idea we're here so we don't have to worry about the thousands of tons of explosives that could be dropped on us. Hopefully the Air Force will destroy their aircraft before they realize what's happening."

"When's that?" asked Hanai.

"They plan to attack tonight," said Captain Maiwald walking up from behind Shinhachi and talking a seat.

"What's the SITREP (situation report) Jason?" Shinhachi asked in English.

"Japanese are meeting heavy resistance approaching Sumoto, Luftwaffe is sending out their fighters to make sure that we hold air supremacy, the Marines are trying to flank the PKA at Sumoto," said Maiwald, Asou was doing his best to follow, but he didn't understand enough English.

"Right, well head that way then, get everyone on their feet."

"No prob," said Maiwald, he turned to Roanoke platoon and yelled, "On your feet slackasses! We're moving out!"

"5th squad, I think we're moving out," Asou said to his squad.

* * *

I would really like to say thank you to the map makers, Rand McNally, for their great atlas, evening though I am using one from 1969, but since its Cold War story it doesn't matter. Beside I know enough about geography to get by. Stand by for more updates and please leave a review.

Updated January 12, 2008: I'm still using that same atlas. I wonder if Rand McNally is still in business? Mmm, I should look into getting a more up to date atlas. More importantly, I've got one more chapter to edit before I start working on chapter 31 one again. Cool, huh? I would have had it up tonight, but my dad wanted to go to Fedex-Kinkos at nearly 9:00 pm... don't ask why.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. Fixed-wing air support means air support that is not a helicopter.

2. Most guns today use smokeless powder which burns cleaner and hotter. The advantages are that it is harder for the enemy to see where you are, the bullets are more powerful, and all around just plain better than black powder bullets. I think the North Koreans still use black powder.

3. The Sikorsky H-60 Hawk series comes in four primary versions: the US Army's UH-60 Black Hawk, the Navy's and Marine Corp's SH-60 Sea Hawk, the Coast Guards HH-60 Rescue Hawk, and the Navy SEAL's and Delta Force's MH-60 Pave Hawk. The Black Hawk is the common version that holds about 11 soldiers, 2 gunners, and 2 pilots. The Sea Hawk has the same capacity as the Black Hawk, but the Navy's ones can carry 2 torpedoes, depth charges, or 2 harpoon cruise missiles. The Rescue Hawk is not armed. The Pave Hawk has two .50 cals, one in each doorway, and has a refueling rod protruding from the front.

4. I don't know if the military feeds their soldiers ramen noodles as a possible REM, but they would make a decent, cheap, and readily available Ready to Eat Meal (REM).

5. According to my atlas, there is a city called Naruto the Island of Shikoku


	17. Chapter 17: Search and Destroy

Next chapter is up; thanks for reading and please review. The family dog ate my laptop's power cord and I had to wait until a new one came... long story. Apparently, my computer is from a series that Sony discontinued. I don't own School Rumble or Bleach.

Updated January 13, 2008: Finally, chapter 17. This was an okay chapter. I didn't think it was my best, but it was okay.

* * *

**Chapter 17: Search and Destroy**

"Search and destroy doesn't always mean do it in that order"

A quote from a military humor website

**1201 Hours; July 2****nd****, 2010; the hills west of Sumoto; ****Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan**

The wind was picking up now. The sky was getting darker by the minute as the storm closed in from the Pacific.

"Shit, it's raining," grumbled Abarai.

It was only a light rain, but the darkening skies promised heavier downpours in the near future. 5th squad continued to follow the Roanoke platoon through the trees of Awaji Island

**BOOM!**

"Was that thunder?" asked Ikuro.

"Iē, that was artillery," said Yamako.

"Sounds like 122mm rounds," said 2nd Lt. Hernandez to Captain Maiwald; Captain Maiwald nodded in agreement.

"We can't leave that arty lying around," said Lt. Colonel Shinhachi.

Following the echoing booms of the hostile artillery, they moved in rapid, silent motion. Up ahead they could see burst of fire from the muzzle of artillery. Lt. Colonel Shinhachi raised his hand to signal the soldiers to halt. He crouched in the mud and pulled out a set of binoculars to observe the enemy.

"I see five 2S1 Gvozdikas, they're spread out in dug in positions with sandbags piled around them… it looks like a trench system connects all of the Gvozdikas," said Shinhachi; behind his back, Kaoji translated for his squad.

"What's the plan Jack?" asked Maiwald.

"Well do it like 1st Lieutenant Winters in Band of Brothers (1); we'll have team 2 and 4 and the Japanese provide covering fire while we sneak around and ambush them from that brush over by the MG nest," said Shinhachi.

"Sir?" said Asou trying to figure out of his squad's part was in this attack.

"SSgt. Asou, I want your squad to follow 2nd Lt. Pierce and draw enemies attention on my signal," order Shinhachi.

"Hai," whispered Asou. "Squad, on me."

Keeping low they crawled towards the edge of the woods where thick brush, mud, and fallen trees would provide ample cover. Kitsumori set up the bipod on his FN Minimi and took aim at two idle PKA machine gunners. The rest of the squad selected semi-auto fire mode and chose targets along with the Americans. The PKA had set up in a clearing by a road with an electrical and telephone line suspended from poles along the road.

The PKA artillery crews, oblivious to the presence of a mixed platoon of NATO soldiers, continued to fire at the Japanese infantry and USMC that were advancing on Sumoto. Through her x12 zoom scope on her SIG G-3000 bolt-action rifle, 2nd Lt. Pierce watched as a 2S1 adjusted its 122mm cannon and fired a white phosphorous anti-personal round towards some poor distant target.

"Roanoke leader to Roanoke 4-1, can you see how they're communicating?"

Pierce looked around through her scope and saw a female NCO with her back to Pierce, sitting in a folding chair manning a table mounted radio connected to a phone line.

"Sir, they connected via the phone line."

"Hee hee, clever bastards aren't they, using the LAN lines to communicate. Can you take it out?"

"I have the radio operator in my sights."

"Good work, count to 30, then fire, Roanoke leader out."

"Rodger."

2nd Lt. Pierce gently opened the bolt of her well maintained SIG 3000, and closed the bolt, chambering a NATO 12.7x99mm (.50 caliber) armor piercing cartridge. She counted down from 30, released the safety with her thumb, took a deep breath, and fired on the exhale (2).

The PKA radio operator was adjusting her radio dials when a shot blasted her forward and into the radio, the PKA stared at the woman slumped over and bleeding over the now destroyed radio. Ishida fired off a 7.62x51mm match cartridge into a squad of PKA artillery crew. Kitsumori started to fire automatic bursts of ball cartridge rounds. The rest of 5th squad fired NATO 5.52x45mm rounds at PKA artillery crews as they leaped into the trenches and started to return fire.

The rest of Roanoke platoon was crawling through the foliage and mud towards an MG nest that guarded an entrance to the trench network. Shinhachi held up a fist and mimed pulling a pin from a hand-grenade. His soldiers nodded, got up from a prone position to crouching on one knee, they each pulled a M67 frag grenade off their tac-vests, and pulled the pin with their left hands and held down the spoon with their right hand's thumb.

Shinhachi stood up while simultaneously releasing the spoon letting the spring-loaded spoon to flick up and light an internal fuse, he threw the fragmentation grenade, and then got back down again before the PKA saw him; his soldiers copied him.

About a dozen and a half blasts went off blowing the PKA soldiers to shreds in a wall of shrapnel.

"Go!" shouted the Lt. Colonel.

Roanoke's 1st, 3rd, and 5th teams surged out of the brush and into the trenches with a barrage of shotgun shells and automatic weapons' fire.

"They secured the MG nest, move forward!" shouted Pierce. "SSgt. Asou, follow on me!"

5th squad ran as fast as any humans could possibly go; so fast that they wear in risk of slipping in the mud and puddles. They dived into the trenches along with the rest of the unit. They immediately started to shoot at the PKA soldiers that were trying to escape from section of the trenches they'd captured.

"Asou!" yelled Shinhachi. "Follow me to the first SP!"

"Hai!"

5th squad followed Roanoke team 1 and 3 as they weaved through the trench to the first of the 2S1s. In a rapid assault they mowed down the five soldiers that were defending the SP. Once they had control of the dugout position that the Gvozdika was sitting in. Captain Maiwald pulled Shimazu to the rear of the 2S1 and gestured at it. Shimazu nodded in acknowledgement, placed a C4 demolition charge on it, placed a detonating tube in it, and pulled the pin. A small mounted of smoke emerge from the detonating tube as the fuse burned; not that they stuck around to watch.

Shielding their heads with their hands a few yards away from the first of the SPs, they heard the C4 go off. Shinhachi signaled his soldiers and 5th squad to follow him. They ran past the twisted, burning remains of the SP they'd destroyed and continued the move down the trench.

As they approach the second gun they could see a ZU-23 twin barreled 23mm anti-air gun (4) and another 2S1 Gvozdika. 5th squad tossed a couple of M67s and fired off a few 40mm frag grenades. One of the Delta Operators threw an HE grenade at the ZU-23. It landed at the base of the gun, under the barrels and blew up. It left one barrel bent and blew the other on off leaving the gun completely useless. As 5th squad and Roanoke teams 1 and 3 stormed the second gun, Shino under Shimazu's orders placed C4 on the 2S1 and aimed it force demolition.

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**1245 Hours; July 2****nd****, 2010; Outskirts of Sumoto; Awaji Island, Japan**

"MORE INCOMING!" screamed a Japanese Marine as more 122mm shells rained down on them with a roar. Kite Company along with USMC armor and infantry were trying to proceed through a barrage from the PKA.

"Vogel (bird; in German) leader can you pinpoint the location of the hostile battery?" a US marine asked desperately into his radio in German.

"Nein (no; in German), we are still searching," responded a German pilot over the radio.

Ichijo was crawling on her belly towards a group of buildings that marked the city limits of Sumoto. As she crawled she found a crater and crawled into it. She rolled over on her back, closed her eyes, let the rain fell on her face, and let out a sigh of relief to be in cover; she wasn't entirely aware that she wasn't protected from indirect fire (5). When she opened her eyes, her stomach clenched, and she let out a high pitched scream.

A Japanese marine lay dead in the middle of the crater, his corpse blacken and burned beyond recognition by a white phosphorous round. Ichijo stuck her head out from the crater and vomited. She rolled back down into the crater and lay shivering and retching.

"Karen-chan?" asked a female voice.

Ichijo looked to her side to see Suō crawling into the crater with her. Suō recoiled at the wide-eyed stare of horror that Ichijo gave her. "Are you okay?"

Ichijo pointed to the incinerated body that lay in a smoldered heap, Suō looked on in shock trying to decide if she was going to be sick or scream. In a brief moment, everything went silent and the voice of Hanai echoed in her head, "_It was like everything was out to kill us. Bombers, mortars, artillery, rockets, snipers, and tanks and anything else that could shoot, explode, or harm us in any way_."

A US marine dived into the crater, briefly caught her breath, and charged on, only glancing at the occupants. Another US marine stopped in the crater kneeled, fired a 3 round burst from his M16A4, and followed the first marine.

Ichijo looked raised her head out of the crater and said in a shaky voice, "I think the artillery is slowing."

It appeared to be true; the shells were coming in less frequently.

"Karen-chan, we can't stay here," said Suō, Ichijo nodded and they made a mad dash for a USMC M60A5 (6) that several other soldiers were shielding themselves behind.

Ichiko fired a burst from her Type 89 assault rifle at window of a house where a PKA paratrooper was shooting from. The M60A5 turned and fired a 105mm HE round at the house blowing a huge chuck off of the house.

"Suō, Ichijo! We're going in!" shouted their squad leader over the roar of gun fire. They moved out from behind the tank and into alleys with their squad deeper into Sumoto.

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**1258 Hours; July 2****nd****, 2010; People's Korean Army fire base over looking Sumoto; Awaji Island, Japan**

"Charges set!" shouted Gawaki as he placed C4 on the fourth 2S1. He pulled the pin and the Delta operators and 5th squad ran for cover.

"Tango spotted," said Pierce as she caught sight on a PKA soldier with an RPK-74 light machine gun. She, her team, and teams 2 and 5 were covering 5th squad and teams 1 and 3 as they destroyed the Gvozdikas. She fired a 12.7x99mm round into soldiers head, as his legs gave way he fell backwards. "Scratch a tango."

"Ma'am, have they secured the last SP?" asked Roanoke 4-3 to his unit leader.

"Not yet, but they're advancing on it."

Weaving through the trench, Shinhachi paused and stared at the last gun. "Jason, get a load of this, there so confused they're shooting in all the wrong directions."

Indeed, the Delta operators' and 5th squad's assault was so rapid that it they enemy was losing track of their position. Shinhachi knew that the same problem could happen to them too and he tried to get a bearing on the situation.

'Okay, we're here in between the fourth and fifth SP and the rest of the platoon is at the MG nest by the first one,' Shinhachi thought to himself. 'There appears to be a squad plus arty crew at the fifth gun, a platoon in those trenches on the other side of the clearing, and… oh fuck… reinforcements in those trees across the road.'

"Jason, we've got more PKA paratroopers, looks like an entire damn company," said Shinhachi.

Maiwald looked through his x16 zoom scope, he squinted through the rain, his jaw dropped, and he yelled, "Jesus Christ! That's not a damn company, that's fucking battalion!"

"Shit! We need to destroy that last gun and run! We don't have the strength to fight off those number!"

Shinhachi slung his M16A5 CS and pulled out a Bernelli M3 pump-action 12 gauge shotgun.

"What happened to that Winchester?" asked Maiwald as he loaded a fresh clip into his H&K MP-7.

"Sold it and bought this," he said matter-of-factly as he unlocked the safety. "At the rate our guns are being upgraded I figured we'd need to buy new guns."

Shinhachi raised his hand and dropped it in the direction of the final gun. They fired a few 40mm grenades and then stormed the dugout in a volley of bullets, screams, and yells. Once they were inside the dugout the PKA still defending the gun ran for their lives towards their allies.

"Clear!"

Reimaru placed C4 on the 2S1 and a Delta operator placed a charge on a ZU-23 positioned under a tree.

"Okay once the charges are set, fall back to the platoon firing position!" shouted Shinhachi; his soldiers nodded. "Fall back to the platoon's firing position back at that MG nest once the charges are set!" 5th squad nodded.

Reimaru pulled the pin and the detonating tube started to smoke as the fuse burned. They ran, bobbing and weaving through the trenches and firing at the PKA soldiers. They ran past the destroyed self-propelled artillery and anti-air guns, ducking and diving as 5.45x45mm and 7.62x39mm rounds zipped over their heads. It took them 15 minutes to fight their way through to all five Gzovdikas and less then 3 minutes to ran back to their where they entered the trenches.

"1st Sgt. Wong, we cleared the all triple A threats (anti air artillery) in that firebase. We have a platoon in those trenches across the cleaning opposite us and battalion in those trees across the road, call it!" Shinhachi ordered one of his radiomen.

1st Sergeant Spencer Wong, a 23 year old Chinese-American, twirled a dial on his radio and spoke in fluent clear German, "This is Roanoke 5-2, requesting napalm and cluster bomb strike at position A21192-W30011, over!"

Meanwhile, a few Delta operators loaded red smoke grenades in M203 grenade launchers and proceeded to mark targets for the Luftwaffe.

"Jawohl (at once), napalm and cluster bomb strike inbound, Vogel leader out," said a German pilot.

"Fast movers are on the way Lt. Colonel!" shouted Wong.

"Okay, were not gonna' stick around for the PKA to overrun us or them Luftwaffe to burn us alive!"

Roanoke platoon and 5th squad ran into the brush and trees and escaped from sight.

After a minute of no return fire, the PKA ceased their shooting. They waited to see what was going to happen next. Little did they know that eight Tornado IDSs armed with napalm, bomblit dispensers, and cluster bombs were only 90 seconds away and closing.

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**1752 Hours; July 2****nd****, 2010; 3km south of Kaikyō; Awaji Island, Japan**

The sun was now setting. Harima watched the sunset through small gaps in the clouds before they disappeared again behind grey clouds from an MH-60 Pave Hawk. Roanoke platoon and 5th squad had cleared out 2 more artillery batteries, 1 mortar batteries, and 4 anti-air batteries, they were all exhausted. Four of the 160th SOAR's Pave Hawks were now giving them a ride into the city of Kaikyō, the city nearest the Akashi-Kaikyō Bridge that lead to the city of Akashi.

"What's the SITREP down there?" yelled Lt. Colonel Shinhachi to the pilot.

"The Japanese 27th Infantry Battalion has secured Kaikyō and the 3rd Marine Battalion has secured Akashi. The rest of the 3rd Marine Division is being airlift by the Air Force to any airport they can use for our C-17s, C-5s, and C-130s. Those poor Commies bastards still down realize what's going on," laughed the pilot.

"It only went well because only an airborne regiment was holding the island and the storm was making it near impossible to see our transports," said Captain Maiwald to Shinhachi; Shinhachi nodded in agreement.

"Oi, Ichigo, how's the arm?" asked Harima; Kurosaki had taken a light shrapnel hit to his left arm during one of their hit-and-run raids.

Kurosaki lifted the pressure bandage and check his wound, "Good, no sign of infection, bleeding stopped, and looks like it will heal in a week or two. It shouldn't stop me from shooting though."

The Pave Hawk lurched forward and proceeded to land in an LZ in a parking lot outside of a commuter rail station. Roanoke platoon and 5th squad climbed out of the Pave Hawks and gathers moved away from the choppers.

"This is Super 5-1, airlift complete, all Super 5 call signs RTB (Return to Base), Super 5 (7) out."

"Where the fuck have you have retards been?! I sent you into a town and you disappear for the whole the day!" shouted 2nd platoon leader, 2nd Lt. Hashigawa.

Lt. Colonel Shinhachi intercepted the enraged 2nd lieutenant, "That would me my fault, we picked this squad up and had them help us clear out PKA batteries all day."

2nd platoon's CO wasn't sure what rank Shinhachi held, but he was sure that it was higher than the one he held. He looked over his missing squad and noticed that he all looked muddy, bruised, and tired; clearly they weren't lying around all day. "Okay, but next tell me where you go before you wander off."

"Hai. Where is the captain, I should report to him," asked Asou.

There was silence.

"We lost another company CO?"

"… PKAF MiG-19 Farmers got him."

"Shit."

"Tell me about it, we seem to lose company COs left and right."

They gathered in the train station waiting room that 2nd platoon was using as sleeping quarters. They picked a corner of the room and pass out from a long day of their work.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. 

Updated January 13, 2008: Finally done editing. I'll start writing chapter 31 now. It'll hopefully be up within two or three days. Thanks for barring with me for this past week.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. In Part Two: Days of Days in the HBO series Band of Brothers, Richard Winters a member of 101st Airborne Division lead a raid on a German artillery position that was shelling Utah Beach during the Normandy Invasion; June 6th, 1944. It consisted of a platoon of men with a large force drawing the German's attention and a smaller force sneaking around hedges to storm the German positions. Next they all gathered in the trenches that connected the firebase and destroyed the artillery. After destroying the guns they withdrew in a classic hit and run raid that proved to be highly successful. Winters was given the Distinguish Service Cross the second highest award in the US Army. Winters attack is now in military textbooks for attacking fixed, dug in positions the Airborne, Rangers, and other infantry corps books.

2. A sniper fires on the exhale because when a person exhales the muscles are most relaxed.

3. I'm not sure if I said this before, but just in case I did forget to say, a tracer round is an ordinary bullet that is coated with a something like magnesium. A tracer round is used as a means to help gunmen, especially machine gunners and AA gunners, to see where their shots our going. Every third or fifth round (normally every fifth) is a tracer round; just because it's lit up doesn't mean they can't kill like any regular bullet. NATO and associated nation's like Israel, Japan, and South Korea uses red tracers and the Warsaw Pack and associated nations like China, Cuba, and North Korea use green tracers.

4. The ZU-23 is an anti-air gun with twin 23mm auto-cannons. It has full 360 rotation and can elevate its guns between -10 degrees or 90 degrees. It has a range of between 2km and 2.5km. It has two wheels and can be towed around by vehicle or a couple of soldiers. ZU stands for _Zenitnaya Ustanovka_ (anti-aircraft mount) designating a stationary AA or an AA has to be towed. ZSU stands for _Zenitnaya Samokhodnaya Ustanovka_ (anti-aircraft self-propelled mount) and designates a mobile AA gun.

5. There are two main means of artillery support: direct fire and indirect fire. Like the names suggest, direct fire is a means of shooting that to be fired straight at the intended target like rifles or AT guns and indirect fire is shooting that is meant to be fired into the air so that the projectile comes down on top of the enemy like mortars or howitzers.

6. There is no such variation of the M60 Patton as the M60A5. The only went of to the M60A3 and then stopped. In real life, the M60 is no longer in use in the US Army or USMC, but still in use in the number of other countries. For future reference I may name variations of weapons, tanks, planes, ships, or vehicles that are either not in service or never existed.

7. The Super Squadron is a real squadron in C Company; 1st Battalion of the 160th Special Operation Aviation Regiment or Night Stalkers, Task Force Delta's and the Army Ranger's air support and air transport corp. The most famous call signs in the Super squadron are Super 6-1 and Super 6-4; both choppers were shot down in Mogadishu on October 3rd, 1993. Of the two Black Hawks shot down, most died on impacted, the pilots of Super 6-1 would die from their wounds, and the only pilot to survive was Super 6-4 pilot, Michael J. Durant.


	18. Chapter 18: Flying High

Please review, I don't own School Rumble or Bleach. As far as I know, I have one of the longest School Rumble fanfictions on this site. I've also decided to add a quote at the beginning of each chapter starting now.

In this chapter I'm going to explore some of the other characters of School Rumble.

* * *

**Chapter 18: Fly High**

"Never in the field of human conflict was so much by so many to so few."

Former Prime Minster Winston in reference to the RAF after the Battle of Briton

**1500 Hours, July 4****th****, 2010; Kaikyō, Awaji Island, Japan**

"See anything?" asked Kaoji.

"Iē," responded Yamako.

5th squad was on the roof of the train on sky monitoring, which meant watching the skies for 6 hours for enemy planes.

"Where is 6th squad? They should be here now," Hanai groaned; he hated people who couldn't be on time.

"Is that ours?" asked Gawaki pointing to a group of planes.

Ishida looked through his rifle scope. "Hai, they're EF-2000 Typhoons… Luftwaffe I think."

5th squad looked up, bored, at the planes with the Knight's Cross insignia that marked Bundeswehr vehicles, tanks, and planes.

"Nice to know that we control the skies here," said Harima vaguely; the others nodded in the same vague fashion.

"Oi, you assholes are late!" shouted Abarai as 6th squad exited the roof stairs and entered the roof.

"Gomen, we…" started a corporal.

"Forget it, we just want to go," said Asou walking past 6th squad; 5th squad followed their squad leader downstairs.

"I'm hungry," stated Shino.

"I smell food," said Kitsumori pointing down the stairs.

"Great," said Abarai taking the lead.

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**1510 Hours, Station Manager's Office/ Roanoke Platoon's Temporary HQ**

'… and in conclusion if NATO continues to keep the momentum in our counter-offensive we should be able to push the Communist Forces out of Japan by August.

Sincerely,

Shinhachi John, S

Lieutenant Colonel

1st Special Force Operational Detachment-Delta; 15th Combat Platoon

ID: USA21002739'

Lt. Colonel Shinhachi completed his report and sent it as an e-mail via SOCOM's secure channels of communication. He checked the date on his laptop. 'July 4th, eh?' he thought, 'Independence Day, same I won't be able to see the fireworks. No rest for me.'

He looked at the photograph next to his laptop, at the girl sitting next to him in it. 'Sorry, but I guess I can't see your performance.'

It had been five days since the one day seizure Awaji Island and now the Japanese 81st Reserve Regiment and Roanoke Platoon was sitting idle again. The US 3rd Marines rear assault on Kobe took the PLA off guard and force them into a rout. The German 21st Panzergrenadier Regiment had taken over the counter-offensive on Honshu along with the US Army's 99th Armor Regiment. The US 3rd Marine Division was quietly redeployed put to sea and was now landing on Kyushu with Turkish paratroopers. The British 6th Airborne Division and 30th Royal Guards Armor Division and French 7th Airborne Regiment was now landing on Shikoku. Operation: Red Water's second stage was going better than expected. The 21st Panzergrenadiers were now laying siege to port city of Hiroshima and the rapid assault on Shikoku was now causing the enemy to withdrawal their troops as fast as they could to the Kanmon Strait. 'Quite a turn around; going from the war going as bad as possible to going as well as possible… must be home field advantage.'

'What's their game?" wonder Shinhachi. 'They're hardly firing a shot and withdrawing to the port of Kitakyushu and Shimonseki without putting up much of a fight.'

He pulled out a cellphone and dialed a number. After a few rings someone picked up. "US Navy Intelligence; Yokohama Office," answered a voice on the other end in a polite tone.

"This is Lt. Colonel Shinhachi of Delta Force, 15th Combat Platoon. What is the navel activity of hostile forces?"

"Where, may I asked?" asked the voice.

"Around Kanmon Strait, also do you know what air activity in the area is?"

There was a pause; Shinhachi could hear someone typing on a keyboard and then, "Navel activity on the enemy's part is non-existent… and air activity is moderate."

"What does moderate mean?"

"An-12s and other transports are being used to keep the PLA and PKA supplied, but their airlifts by our calculations won't be enough to supply a large front."

"I see… thank you… uh."

"Chief Petty Officer Hennessy, sir."

"Thank you Hennessy," said Shinhachi, he closed his phone and placed it in his pocket.

He pressed a few keys on his laptop and then pulled up a map of Japan. 'So the enemy is can't sustain a large front… they have to concentrate their forces around a small area.'

He logged onto the US Military search engine; this was like an ordinary search engine, but with the proper security clearance one could pull up classified materials with ease. He entered in the advance search, 'Subject: Lt. General Ling Zhanghe – Nation: People's Republic of China – Service: People's Liberation Army,' he left the rest blank and pressed enter. After a few seconds the search had found a file on him.

'Lt. General Ling Zhanghe, age 39, is the commander of VII Corp of the 3rd Army,' he read, he scanned for the relevant information since he wasn't really interested in Zhanghe's life story. He noted that Zhanghe was a cautious man who favored slow, overwhelming armor assaults and tended to prefer blitzkrieg style attacks which weren't practical in the mountainous areas of central Japan

'Shit, this guy is seems like a poor choice for command of an invasion of this type,' he thought. Shinhachi began his next report, what is the PLA's and PKA's next move.

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**0900 Hours July 5****th****, 2010; Hiroshima, Japan**

A lone building burned and charred from a day of horror; the day the people of this city thought the sun had exploded. This building was left as a memorial to the people of Hiroshima that perished on that sunny day in August when a US B-29 dropped the second of two atomic bombs at the end of the Pacific War (1).

Nara stared on in awe, he turned around stared around at the park dedicated to the people who died (2).

"Oi, Kentaro, we need to go," said a scrawny 1st Lieutenant.

"Hai, Hiroaki," he said breaking away from his reverence and turning to follow his flight lead. Nara picked up the paper bag he had put down earlier and walked over to the jeep his flight lead was sitting in.

"Did you get everything?" asked Hiroaki.

"Hai," said Nara showing him the contents of the bag which was various packaged foods.

"Good, I'm sick of those REMs they keep giving us."

They drove down passing Bundeswehr soldiers, last evening the 21st Panzergrenadiers had plowed through the few PKA soldiers defending Hiroshima. A man with the an armband with the letters BP (Bundeswehr Polizei - Military Police) held up a red paddle like sign that said, 'Halt! (stop).' The BP turned and signaled and a two Leopard 2A6 tanks and three Marder 1A3 IFVs rolled by. The BP stepped to the side and waved Hiroaki and Nara on.

Nara kept the food secure between his boots and he idly watched as they passed German Gepard anti-air vehicles, Roland surface to air missile launchers, and other measures the Germans 21st Regiment had placed to prevent a counter-attack from both the air and ground.

They pulled into Hiroshima a large flat highway that was being used as an airstrip. Japanese Air-Defense Force's F-15Js (3) of 201st Fighter Squadron of the 2nd Air Wing were lined up on the edges of the highway with ground crews readying them for sortie.

"It 0945, we have 15 minutes to get our gear," said Hiroaki.

They changed into their flight suits and ran to their planes. Nara climbed up the ladder into his F-15J and closed the canopy. Once the ground crew had removed the ladder and gotten clear, Nara started the engine. He listened as the whined and screeched as the turbines begin to start. A steady whine sounded as Nara began to move his plane into position.

Once it was his turn to launch and a man signaled him to take off, Nara gunned the throttle, his engine roared, and he was blasted against his seat as the Eagle rapidly accelerated. He felt a bump and then he felt weightless, pulled back on his stick and climbed high at a 45 degree angle following the other planes.

They leveled off at 12,000 ft and were cruising at a speed of 560 knots (4) heading south towards Shimonseki. Joining them was additional squadrons of Mitsubishi F-1s, F-2s and F-4EJs (5). The 201st Fighter Squadron was to fly cover with the 205th's and 206th's F-2s while the F-1s launched torpedoes and Harpoon cruise missiles at the PLN (People's Liberation Navy) and F-4EJs dropped CBU-87 cluster bombs and Mk. 80 bombs.

Nara sat quietly trying to keep up with his flight lead's reckless maneuvers; Hiroaki was considered to be the wildest pilot in the 201st, but Nara admired his outgoingness and courage. At these times Nara wondered what his life would have been like if he were less shy and silent or if he just speak up. He wondered if he would have had a girlfriend… and have better friends… better than Yoshidayama. Nara thought about the letter from Yoshidayama and how he was bragging about all kinds of daring acts when Nara knew that he was patrolling around the secure bases in the north.

"White Fox leader, this is AWACS Doku Gon Ryu, you are clear for refueling." They approached an E-767 AWACS and two KC-767 tankers with the red circle outlined in white that was the Japanese Air-Defense Force's insignia. Nara patiently waited his turned.

"White Fox 2-4, refuel begin your approach," ordered one of the two tankers. Nara increased his airspeed a tiny bit and carefully edged towards the tanker.

"Hold that position 2-4."

Nara gently pulled back on his throttle so he could match the tanker's airspeed. The refueling rod extended towards his plane and he watched it made contact with his F-15J and pumped fuel into his aircraft.

"White Fox 2-4, returned to your squadron."

"Hai, returning to White Fox squadron."

They began a slow descent towards their mission objectives.

"This is White Fox leader, we are now entering the mission area. White Fox squadron begin mission."

They flew over the F-1s as they moved in for the Chinese warships that were either at anchor or floating near the docks.

"White Fox 2-4, can you ID those planes below us?" Hiroaki asked Nara. Nara looked down to see a group of planes that resembled the F-16, but that didn't help because several air forces flew the F-16 or almost identical plane including the Japanese Air Defense Forces and the Chinese People's Liberation Air Force (6). Nara pulled out a pair of binoculars and looked through them. He saw a red rectangle with a red star outlined in yellow in the middle; PLAF fighters.

"They're bandits! PLAF J-10As… and a flight of J-11Bs under those clouds… looks like they haven't spotted us," said Nara.

"Lets not wait, go clean and engage," ordered White Fox 2-1. They dropped their external fuel tanks and rolled right into dive. "Tally oh on those bandits."

They increased their speed to 600 knots. A beeping rang through out Nara's cockpit, a bright green circle and triangle rotated around a light green square marked J-11B. The triangle and circle aligned and turned red; a beeping tone became constant. Nara pressed a red button on his stick and yelled, "White Fox 2-4, Fox Two (7)… missile active!"

The unsuspecting PLAF pilots began to scatter the moment they heard their missile warning sirens go off. The J-11B pilot Nara had shot at jinked left, but didn't turn hard enough to escape the Sidewinder. It clipped his tail, Nara could see his engines die and sputter then one of them give off a small explosion.

"He bailed," Nara said when he saw the J-11B's cockpit blast open and an ejection seat fly out. "White Fox 2-4, Splash one."

"Here they come."

The J-10A and J-11Bs had turned around for a head on pass. The red Kanji character that read 'warning' appear on Nara's HUD (Head's Up Display). "Radar spike!"

Nara's whole HUD turned red and a loud buzzing blared as a J-11B fired a Vympel R-27 medium range air to air missile at Nara's F-15J.

"Hang in there 2-4," said Hiroaki as he flew in the missile's path drawing it away from Nara. He jinked hard right and accelerated up; the missile unable to keep up with Hiroaki's maneuvers flew off into the empty sky and having no target it self-destructed.

"2-3 you baka! You're gonna' get your ass blown out of the sky!"

"Relax, I can handle it," said Hiroaki idly.

"You son of a… arggg… forget it."

Nara was pursuing a J-10 in an upward helix. The lighter J-10 was able to just stay outside of Nara's gun sights and the turn was too hard for a sidewinder. He lowered his throttle which enabled him make a tighter turn, once he had a lead on the J-10 he fired a burst from his M61 gatling gun. The 20mm rounds ripped the tail fin off and the part of the left tail wing. The J-10, without its stabilizers, violently spun toward the far below earth.

"Picture clear, proceed with mission," order AWACS Doku Gan Ryū.

"This is Hotel leader, we are beginning are attack runs, White Fox squadron cover our bombing runs."

Nara and White Fox squadron followed the group of F-4EJ Phantoms as they formed up for their runs. Green tracer rounds from Type 87 and Type 90 anti-air artillery and contrails from Hongqi-17 and SA-6 Gainful Surface to Air Missiles filled the skies.

"Fuck this! Will never make it through!"

"You're going to keep going soldier or I shoot you myself!"

"You bastar…" static. A Phantom was blasted in half by a Hongqi-17.

"Shit they're killing us... AGGHH!"

"What th…?" static.

"We're over the target! Pickle! Pickle!" The Phantoms released numerous CBU-87 cluster bombs; Nara could see the bombs break apart into smaller bomblits.

"Targets hit, those supplies are burning. We're clearing out. Good luck to the second wave."

"This is White Fox leader, continue air supremacy runs until the third wave has hit the docks."

"2-4, this is 2-3. We need clear some of those AAs or the next two waves will suffer like the first."

"Hai." Nara and Hiroaki rolled and dive at the docks. Five docks, each parallel to each other were in front of them. 25mm and 35mm rounds were flying past them. They used a thatch weave (8) formation to make it difficult for the PLA and PKA to get a bead on Nara and Hiroaki. They fired short accurate burst of their M61s at the AA guns.

"Hiroaki, what the fuck do you think you're doing?! Raiding Triple A positions is the job of the Wild Weasels (9), not you!" roared their squadron CO.

"Relax major."

"I will not relax!"

"Kentaro, we're going in again."

"Uh… okay."

The pulled into an upward helix and went into the thatch weave again. Suddenly Hiroaki broke out of formation, accelerated ahead of Nara, and straight at a group of Type 90 AA guns.

"Hiroaki what are… LOOK OUT!" Hiroaki didn't see two Type 95 mobile AAs moving out from behind a warehouse. Hiroaki didn't see the volley of 35mm fire and missiles. But Nara did and he used a corkscrewed maneuver to pull out. Nara saw his wing leader's planes shatter into a million pieces.

"White Fox 2-3 was shot down," said someone.

Nara sat in shock, not really aware of his surrounds. White noise fill his ears and he knew that he was dangerously close to passing out, but he couldn't move.

"White Fox 2-4," called out a distant voice that sounded like it was underwater.

"2-4," repeated the voice, a little more clearly.

"2nd Lieutenant Nara!" screamed Nara's flight lead.

Nara twitched back to reality; he was flying at mach 1, the second wave of Phantoms were roaring in, two Jiangwei class frigates were shooting, and in the distance he could see more planes.

"Sir, I see bandits, vector 180 (10)!" yelled Nara.

"Shit! All White Fox call signs engage!"

White Fox squadron rally with their surviving planes; Nara was trailing two wobbling planes that were smoking slightly. Even though Nara had been in only two previous combat missions, he knew that pilots would normally target the damaged planes first.

"Those are either Su-15 Flagons and Su-27 Flankers or J-8Fs and J-11Bs, shit they look so similar. AWACS boggy dope."

"They appear to be PKAF Flagons and Flankers, Fishbeds are inbound low."

"Okay, A and B flights engage the high. C and D flight engage the low!"

Nara accelerated with his flight lead at the Flagons. He could see the red star outline in red, white, and blue ring; the Korean People's Air Force insignia.

"Fox Three!" Nara yelled as he fired four AIM-120 AMRAAM Phoenix missiles. The missile ripped its intended targets apart, but the North Koreans refused to break formation.

Nara rolled to avoid 30mm fire from two Flankers who were covering for Flagons. Nara had to corkscrew to avoid the exploding F-15J in his path. He fired a burst and hit a charging Flanker in cockpit; Nara caught a glimpse of blood smeared across the cockpit and a now headless pilot.

The sight turned his stomach and white noise was starting to ring in his ears again; Nara shook his head, he needed to concentrate.

"Oi, do Flagons have internal gun?" asked 1-4.

"Iē, they have to have them mounted separately," said 4-2. "Why?"

"Cause the Flankers are being pretty protective."

"I see," said White Fox leader, "The Flagons are being used as missile platforms and the Flankers are to us busy. B Flight engage those Flagons."

"Hai," responded B Flight, including Nara.

Nara jinked right and then left, effectively avoiding a Flanker. He had two Flagons in on his HUD. He fired a Sidewinder and a burst of 20mm rounds sending one Flagon hurtling towards the ground in flames; the second Flagon took minor damage, but hit its afterburners and abandoned the fight completely.

Nara followed the other two surviving planes in his flight in a downward helix at the last five Flagons. He had one last Sidewinder and he made sure to make it count.

He paused. He thought about the fact that inside that Su-15 Flagon was a person, like him. He felt his hand tremble and cold sweat trickle down his entire body as the lock-on tone filled his ears. The noise was deafening, could he do it? Could he kill another person?

A green flash flew past his cockpit; a Flanker was now on his tail and shooting at him. It hit Nara that if he didn't shoot, they would shoot him. They were people like him, but they were also soldiers like him and they both had a job to do whether they like it or not. Nara didn't like, but he knew that under the circumstances they had to do their jobs.

"Fox Two." Nara didn't stay to watch, he had to avoid the Flanker on his tail. "White Fox 2-4, Winchester (out of ammo) on missiles. Can someone clear my six?"

"I got him. Fox Two… missile active……. splash one."

"Arigato."

"This is Doku Gon Ryū, MiG-29 Fulcrums and MiG-21 Fishbeds are closing fast from vector 178."

"AWACS, we don't have enough ammo to take on another wave, request permission to bug out (retreat)."

"Negative you need to cover the forth wave and… what the? Large formation of planes coming from vector 300. IFF marks them as Royal Naval Air Force planes and French Air Force planes."

Nara looked toward the northeast to see British Harriers armed with ground attack munitions and air to air munitions. French Mirage 2000Bs race towards the incoming MiGs and SEPECAT Jaguars head off towards PKA firebases.

"Looks like our allies have things covered, all aircraft RTB."

Nara didn't look back, he knew they wasn't anything for him to see.

* * *

I no soldier, but as I understand it the hardest lesson of war is that the enemy are people like you. But that doesn't matter because as soldiers, they have a job to do and so do our soldiers. It's the sad reality of war.

Appendix

1. The Japanese normally referred to World War II as the Pacific War because the European part of World War II hardly affected their lives; in fact the Japanese are not as well educated on the War in Europe as Americans are, but to be fair we did fight in both areas of the world and it would naturally hold more relevance to us.

2. One burned out building that survived the bomb dropped on Hiroshima and is still standing as a memorial. A park across the street has been erected too as a memorial and a sort of protest against the use of nuclear weapons.

3. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries obtained a license to build F-15 Eagles from McDonnell-Douglas. The F-15J is the variation of the F-15C; the Mitsubishi also makes a variation called the F-15JD which is a two-seater trainer version. If a plane is designated the J is a version for Japanese service.

4. 560 knots is roughly 644 mph or 1,037 km/h. Airspeed and water speed are both measured in knots. 1 mph is 0.868976 knots.

5. The F-1 is made by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, it is a close air support fighter that is well suited for anti-ship attacks, can hold its own in a dogfight if need be, and is closely based off the SEPECAT Jaguar close air support fighter. The F-2, also made by Mitsubishi is a considered a close support fighter, but it really is a multi-role fighter that is more directed at air to air combat; the F-2 is closely based off Lockheed-Martin's F-16 Fighting Falcon. The F-4E was originally built by McDonnell-Douglas, but Mitsubishi obtained licensing and now produces the F-EJ which serves as a bomber of sorts.

6. The Chinese have a plane out called the J-10; it is based off the F-16. It's also in the game Battlefield 2 as the Chinese fighter plane. Most Chinese planes, tanks, and guns are based off Russian models, but there are a few pieces of equipment that are based off US equipment.

7. Fox Two is a phrase from the Air Force's Brevity Code. It means that an IR guided missile like the AIM-9 Sidewinder is launched.

8. The Thatch Weave formation is a two plane attack style that involves one plane criss-crossing with a second plane. The criss-crossing motion makes it difficult to target wither plane.

9. Wild Weasels are a special group of pilots trained to attack and destroy anti-air emplacements.

10. In the air force they use degrees to report positions with some slight differences. 0 or 360 degrees is north, 090 degrees is west, 180 degrees is south, and 270 degrees is east.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya


	19. Chapter 19: Blood in the Water

I'm going to write this second chapter on other character of School Rumble before getting back to 5th squad. I'm sure most of you out there have long since realized that I'm a history nut; I'm really into World War II, Cold War, and I've started reading a book about the rise and fall of Yugoslavia. I don't own School Rumble or Bleach.

A special thank you to Perrou for giving me a review.

* * *

**Chapter 19: Blood in the Water**

"Damn the torpedoes, Full speed ahead!"

Admiral David G. Farragut

**0700 Hours July 18****th****, 2007, Shirane Hibiki Bay; 30km west of the coast of Kitakyushu and Shimonoseki Japan**

"I love you," said a mysterious figure to a bespectacled petite girl with two braided pigtails.

"I… don't know what to say," responded the girl. "I think I lov…"

"Petty Officer 3rd Class Yūki Tsumugi," interrupted a voice. "Wake up."

Yūki eyes snapped open and was not greeted by the sight of smiling handsome mysterious man, but a stoic, not as good looking, male Petty Officer 2nd Class. "A US Navy E-2 Hawkeyes spotted Chinese transport ships with escorts. Get to the bridge ASAP."

"Hai," Yūki answered groggily. "Natsuyami?"

"Hai."

"You're in the women's sleeping quarters."

"Oh, right," he said with dawning compression and left quickly.

Yūki climbed out of her bunk, into a narrow hall with about 30 bunks, 12 identical halls made up the sleeping quarters of the DDH-143 Shirane (1). She pulled on an ankle length blue skirt her white panties, a button white shirt over her bra, dark blue tie, a blue jacket that match her skirt, and placed cap on her head. Since they were going into battle she grabbed her flak vest and a helmet.

She picked up a lead pipe and walked down the hall banging on the metal frames around peoples bunks yelling, "Wake up, all hands general quarters! I say again, all hands general quarters (2)!"

She exited her sleeping quarters walked down the hall way with other sailors. She walked towards a staircase and walked until she reached a door with a guard standing in front of his with an MP-5 in his hands. Yūki waved in greeting and the guard nodded in acknowledgement as he stepped aside for her.

Yūki entered the bridge; she looked around at the radar and sonar techs to one side, the commander's seat in the middle, and the SAM fire control seats and her own seat at the surface to surface fire control on the other side. Outside the huge windows she could see the two main guns; each packed a signal 127mm (5 inch) gun. Above the window were several monitors that showed the sonar and radar screens, camera views from the two main guns, and additional camera views to allow the commander to see his surroundings.

Yūki sat down next to the same man that came to wake her up. "Ohaiyo Petty Officer Nastuyami."

"Ohaiya Yūki," he said in his usual tone that told her that his mind is else where; he was too busy checking all sensory and tracking systems. Yūki checked to make sure the Harpoon cruise missiles were ready for launch.

"Commander Saigo, all systems are ready," said Lt. Commander Jinya.

"Very good, weight anchor and then go to 25 knots, we'll pull the Shirane onto the Shimokita's port side."

"Aye, Commander."

Yūki sat quietly; she wouldn't be need until they made contact with the enemy. After a half hour a radar tech shouted, "Commander! Four Yuling-II Class LLSs (large landing ship) coming from vector 068."

"Escorts?" asked Lt. Commander Jinya.

"Two Jiangwei II class frigates and two Jianghu III class frigates plus three Luda I class destroyers and… that's strange."

"Nani (what)?" asked Commander Saigo turning to face the radar tech.

"Uh… there appears to be one Kara class cruiser, but that's a Russian ship."

"Get me an image."

An image of the Chinese ships came on monitor. Also though it was far away, they could see that the Kara class was flying the Chinese red flag with yellow stars.

"Commander is that a Soviet ship?" asked Jinya.

"It's probably Soviet built, but bought by the Chinese," said Commander Saigo. "They've bought warships from Russia in the past."

"Yūki." Yūki turned to face Nastuyami. "The enemy ships are in range, I'm giving you the coordinates."

All 12 PLN (People's Liberation Navy) ships were now on Yūki's screen she began to hone in on targets and prepare to launch missiles.

A phone next to Commander Saigo rang, he picked it up, "This is Commander Saigo… hai… hai we have the enemy in range… aye Rear Admiral Ide."

He hung up. "We have our orders to fire when ready. Main guns 1 and 2 arm Sabots and target that Jianghu class frigate on the star port side of their group. Phalanx, prepare to destroy any incoming missiles. Sea Sparrows, prepare for any incoming air support."

Lt. Commander Jinya turned to Yūki and Natsuyami, "Target the leading Yuting-II class and sink it."

"Aye Lt. Commander," they said. Yūki grabbed her computer mouse and selected the transport. She armed missile tubes 1 and 2 with sabot missiles (2). Natsuyami relayed updated target info. "Missile tubes 1 and 2 firing Harpoon sabot missiles."

A deafening shriek rattled the bridge as the Harpoons launched from the mid-ship. Natsuyami continued to relay updates on the targets progress and Yūki sent the information to the missiles that were flying high above the clouds.

"They're over the target zone," said Natsuyami.

Yūki sent the missiles into a high speed dive. Once they reached a certain distance she pressed a button, the missiles outer shells broke apart and each propelled smaller projectile at extremely high speeds that went through the deck of the Yuting-II class and detonating its cargo.

"Looks like it was caring munitions," said Natsuyami when they saw the transport explode in half, sending a shock wave they nearly capsized a Jiangwei frigate next to it.

"Missile launch detected. Looks like it's targeting the Sawayuki, right behind us," was a radar tech.

"Phalanx! Shoot down those missiles," order Lt. Commander Jinya. While 20mm fire filled the skies the water in front of the Shirane exploded.

"Destroyer, 11 O'clock, is targeting us, frigate, 10 O'Clock, its moving to flank us!"

"More missiles inbound, shit that cruiser took out a destroyer on star port side."

"Turn 30 degrees port, main gun 1 fire at that destroyer, main gun 2 target that frigate at 10 O'clock. Missile tubes 1 through 4 target the enemy cruiser," order Commander Saigo. The Shirane list (4) slightly from a shock wave cause by an explosion, but corrected itself soon after.

"Aye Commander!" responded several voices.

Down in main gun 1, the crew loaded a Sabot into the 127mm gun. The gunner used the laser range finder to target the offending destroyer. "Fire one… target missed, adjusting."

"Armed!" shouted the loader closing the chamber.

"Fire two… target hit! Looks like we hit their main gun."

"Armed!"

In the bridge, Yūki was updating the cruisers position to the missile as Natsuyami provided the coordinates. As she watched her monitor she saw a missile disappear, then another, and the other two.

"Commader, the missiles were shot down."

"Petty Officer Yūki, that is not good enough, try again."

"Aye Commander."

"Yūki," said Natsuyami. She turned to face him. "You attack from high above with sabots, but what about low with standard HE and straight into their hull?"

Yūki stared at he screen, they was a frigate screening that exact approach, but it could be done. "If you can provide the real-time data, I think I can guide a Harpoon around that frigate."

"On it."

Yūki armed all four tubes with Harpoon cruise missiles. She stared intently at four red LED lights that represented a missile tube. They turned green to show they were ready for launch. She pressed the launch button. She watched the 4 Harpoons launch, dive low, and race only a few feet above the water.

"I need better coordinates than this," she growled at Natsuyami.

He scowled, "Well I need an AWACS or something to give more faster data, but we're gonna' have to make do, won't we?"

The Shirane shook as a 130mm shell hit the water on their port side. Yūki could feel sweat running down her face as her missile approach the frigate, if they didn't get this just right they could hit the frigate instead.

"The Tone was hit by the Kara Class cruiser, she's listing!" shouted a radioman. Commander looked at the monitor to see the image of an Abukuma class frigate listing onto its port side, massive flume of smoke rising from its bridge.

"Destroyer at 12 O'clock, it targeting its guns at us!"

"Your almost at that frigate, this is the best I can give you," said Natsuyami.

"I understand," said Yūki. Her hands were starting to tremble as she. '5,4,3,2,1, and… yes!'

"We made it!" she cheered.

"Not in my ear," groaned Natsuyami.

"Gomen… uh I need an update."

"Oh right… target has moved 130m to position Alpha 194 – Theta 30."

"Got it. ETA is 90 seconds," said Yūki.

"Enemy cruise is turning to its port side; it looks like it see are missiles."

"Ughhh why don't we have something to us more accurate data?"

"I don't know," said defensively.

"I'm not blaming you, but… never mind… ETA 50 seconds."

The missiles were speeding low, a little low for the Chinese AA to target accurately. The moment of truth was upon them.

"Target hit!" yelled Yūki grabbing a stunned Natsuyami into a hug. She released him almost at once leaving Natsuyami looking like he hadn't yet registered what happened.

"Observers, what is that cruisers status," asked Lt. Commander Jinya.

"She's taken three hits to its hull and one to its radar tower. She's taking on water... we've punctured their hull, she's sinking!"

"Good, now target that destroyer at 12 O'clock," the Lt. Commander ordered Yūki and Natsuyami.

Suddenly there was an explosion that rattled the entire ship.

"Damage report!" yelled Commander Saigo.

"They hit our radar tower Commander."

"Fuck, I can't relay targets to you with radar," cursed Natsuyami banging his fist on the metal surface in front of him. "Wait… I think I can still link with other ships."

"This is Commander Saigo of the DDH-143 Shirane of Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces. Our radar is down, but we can stay receive info. Is there an electronics warfare plane in the area?" said the Commander into his phone. He repeated his request, then again, then again in Frech, and then in English.

"This AWACS Lighthouse of the USS Dwight D Eisenhower, we hear you. We're approach the battle from vector 165. We're in your operational zone, over."

Natsuyami typed away at his keyboard to see his options. There was now an US Navy E-2 Hawkeye in the area and available. He relayed the position of the enemy destroyer to Yūki who in turn fired two Harpoon cruise missiles at the Luda II class destroyer.

"Missile two was destroyed… missile one hit the enemy's bow. Target is disabled and unable to move from her position," said Yūki.

"The enemy's battle group is retreating sir!"

A cheer ranged out from the crew. Yūki and Natsuyami slumped back in their chairs and sighed in relief.

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Yūki and Natsuyami were standing on the deck with some sailors and guards, watching on of their SH-60J Sea Hawks circling the wreckage of the PLN ships.

It returned to the Shirane, but with a passenger.

They pulled him towards onto the Shirane off the chopper and then pulled him on deck with guns trained on him. They stared at him, he was wearing a Chinese uniform, but he was clearly Caucasian, not Asian.

"Who are you?!" demanded a guard uselessly sticking an H&K MP-5 in the sailor's face.

"I doubt he speaks Japanese," said a female guard to the first guard who still yelling at the prisoner who didn't seem to understand a word being said.

"What language does he speak?" asked someone.

"English?" suggested someone.

"Unlikely," said Natsuyami shaking his head as though they were all missing the obvious. "He's probably a Russian. That was probably a Soviet ship, being crewed by Soviets and disguise as Chinese."

Natsuyami turned and left. Yūki took one last look at the prisoner and then followed Natsuyami, glared defiantly at her, as though daring her to harm him. She found him leaning against a railing staring at sea.

"So… what do you think is going on?" asked Yūki.

Natsuyami continued to stare and then said, "I heard a rumor."

"A rumor?"

"Hai, NATO and the Warsaw Pack have been both trying to keep this quiet to avoid mass panic. The story is that a Soviet division commander deserted along with his entire division. No one knows where they are, but I heard a story that they are going to attack Japan," he said.

"I heard too, but…" started Yūki, but she stopped. She realized that this was the first conversation she had with him. After months of working together she didn't even know his first name. She knew that he was a highly intelligent person who tended to roll his eyes behind that backs of people who couldn't figure out the obvious.

"Go on, I'm listening," he said turning to look her in the eye. She stared into his unfeeling grey eyes with what she thought might just be actual interest. He seemed so cold and distant, but a hint of friendliness.

"I um… I kinda intercepted this encrypted e-mail," she said. He nodded to show he'd keep it a secret. "Those Soviets haven't been sighted in Korea or China. They think they're heading west and they're planning to seize the Soviet government."

Natsuyami leaned his back against the railing with his arms supporting him. He thought about what Yūki told him. "That would make sense. We haven't seen the Soviets after all this time, the Soviets aren't normally too concerned with the affairs of China… something like this they must have an agenda of their own for something like that… shit that could plunge the world in a world war if they stage a coup."

"Um… Natsuyami?"

"Hai?"

"We've been working together you about 4 months and…"

"And?" he asked mildly.

"What's your full name?"

He stared at her, a little shocked; clearly he was expecting something else. Then for the first time she known him, he smiled; it was a small smile, but one none the less. "Natsuyami Keisuke, I'm 20, a live in Kyoto, and I attended Kyoto University until I was drafted."

"I'm Yūki Tsumugi, but you know that… um I'm 18, I live in Yagami, and I didn't even get a chance to get an answer from the colleges I applied to."

"War's a bitch ain't it? But it can't be helped, if we don't fight we won't have colleges to attend," Natsuyami.

"True," Yūki said in agreement.

They fell into a slightly awkward silence silence. "So… um… Tsumugi… wanna get lunch?"

Yūki smiled, "I'd like that… Keisuke."

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**1300 Hours; Sanyō, Yamaguchi Prefecture; 23km northeast of Shimonoseki**

A Japanese Ground Force UH-60J Black Hawk landed in a makeshift LZ in front of a parking garage. A small figure and a much taller figure jumped off and purposely marched towards the parking garage with a banner that read:

81st Heliborne/Armor Regiment; 14th Reserved Brigade

27th Infantry Battalion HQ

They walked up a stare case past guards who saluted them. They approached a female major who was showing a group of officers a map on a card table.

"Excuse me, but are you Major Daijin?" asked the shorter of the two removing his helmet and revealing white spiky hair.

"Hai, and you are?"

"I'm Captain Hitsugaya Tōshirō," said the man handing papers over to Major Daijin.

"I am 1st Lieutenant Mastumoto Rangiku," said the woman with breasts the size of basketballs.

"You're both regular military?" asked Captain Nara looking over Hitsugaya's and Mastumoto's papers.

"The company I was sent to command has lost two COs already. They felt that someone who wasn't draft and had longer training would be better suited for the job. Lt. Mastumoto has been my second in command and they sent her with me."

Major Daijin thought she heard him add under his breath, 'against my will.'

"Hai, well, I suppose you're here for Echo Company. I've been taking charge of them in between COs. I show you where they are," said Captain Nara.

They walked up to the fifth floor where a group of soldiers was practicing material arts, another one drawing in a corner, one repairing his uniform with a sowing kit, another one studying a Japanese to English Dictionary, and one reading a NATO recognition guide book.

"Hey, Captain Nara, who's the runt?" asked Harima stepping forward and poking Hitsugaya in the forehead.

Histugaya eye's twitched, grabbed Harima's hand, twisted it, and said, "That's Captain Hitsugaya."

"Is that you Tōshirō," called out Kurosaki.

"Captain Hitsugaya, Private Kurosaki, and yes it's me."

"Who's he?" Hanai whispered into Kurosaki's ear.

"Hitsugaya Tōshirō, he was in the grade ahead of us. Unlike me, who doesn't give a shit formalities, he always yelled for us to call him Hitsugaya-sempai. He signed onto the Ground Forces after he graduated and we only see him every once in a while," said Kurosaki.

"He's short, but he can kick your ass," said Abarai warningly. Hanai stared at the look of agony on Harima's face and decided not to mention Captain Hitsugaya's height, ever.

Hitsugaya released Harima and said, "I'm Captain Histugaya Tōshirō. You will address me as Captain Histugaya, captain, or sir, understood."

"Sir, yes sir!" yelled the soldiers who trained under Drill Sergeant Green of the USMC, the others answered in similar fashions. Hitsugaya smiled a little that his could take orders and understood that he was in charge.

"I was training soldiers in Sendai when I got orders to command this company. I am your permanent CO and I do not intend to transfer or die," said with authority that impress 5th squad. He then looked grudgingly at his associate with the massive boobs and mumbled, "I… uh… would like now to introduce your new second in command 1st Lieutenant Matsumoto Rangiku."

"Konnichiwa!" said Lt. Matsumoto so cheerily that 5th squad took a few steps back. "I'm 1st Lt. Matsumoto, but you can call me Rangiku, and if Captain here is too mean to you just talk to me and I'll take her of it, kay."

5th squad stared open mouthed at both her unnaturally large breasts and her overwhelmingly friendly behavior. As she spoke she grabbed Captain Hitsugaya cheeks and pinched them. Captain Hitsugaya's eye's twitched in fury and he looked like he wanted to kill her. He grabbed Matsumoto's hands and wrenched them away from his face yelling, "God damn it Mastumoto! Will you take you fucking job seriously for once! You're a fucking officer of the Japanese Federal Self-Defense Forces, act like one!"

"Captain!" said Matsumoto in mock surprise. "Such language!"

"Hey, uh do you think we should introduce are selves to Captain Hitsugaya?" asked Koaji leaning towards Asou's ear so he could whisper.

"Something tells me that we should wait a while before interrupting them," said Asou as he watched Lt. Mastumoto continue to mock Captain Hitsugaya and Hitsugaya yell in anger.

"So… whose hungry?" asked Shimazu.

* * *

I hope ya'll enjoyed the navel battle; I intend to do more with those characters. Hey if there any characters you want in the my story feel free to speak up. I don't care if it's an existing character or one you made up, but tell me soon or I may not be able to fit it into the story.

Appendix

1. DDH-143 Shirane is a real destroyer in service with the Japanese Maritime Defense-Forces, however, it is not equipped with SSM (surface to surface missiles); it does have SAMs. DDH means it's a destroyer meant for launcher small numbers of helicopters. DDG marks a destroyer armed with cruise missile launch tubes.

2. General quarters is a navy term for battle stations; it also signifies that they are going on red alert and to expect to be in battle very soon.

3. I don't know if such a missile excises, but it would be such a bad idea considering the armor piercing power of Sabots.

4. In case you don't know, list can be a term used to describe a ship that is tipping to the side. It is not normally consider a good thing to happen to a ship because it's often a sign that the ship is taking on water or in danger of capsizing.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya


	20. Chapter 20: Operation: Kamikaze

Chapter 20, ooh-rah! I don't own School Rumble or Bleach or any other product mention in my story. I am taking some liberties since it is a fictional story such as the obvious fact that there is no more Soviet Union. Please review. Maybe even tell a friend.

A special thank you to the anonymous person and to Smoky.Blade who left reviews. About NATO losing a battle, don't expect the Chinese and North Koreans to win the battle of Shinomoseki and Kitakyushu when they're cut off from their main supply lines, starving, surrounded, and demoralized. Of course it wouldn't be an interesting story if everything went completely to NATO's favor, but ya'll just have to keep reading.

* * *

**Chapter 20: Operation: Kamikaze**

"Not one step back, comrades!"

Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin; his orders to the Red Army during the German invasion

**1000 Hours; July 20****th****, 2010; Sanyo; Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan**

"Ohaiyo, 27th Battalion," said Major Daijin as she stepping in front of a flat concrete wall being used as a projection screen.

"Ohaiyo Major Daijin," yelled the 27th Infantry Battalion.

"Today is the briefing you all have been waiting for a long time. The briefing for the final blow against the Communist invaders on our soil," she declared. Her soldiers cheer and clapped at the idea of sealing their victory.

The looked up at the map. The map showed the Kanmon Strait which separated the islands of Honshu and Kyushu. On the Kanmon Strait sat two major ports: on Honshu was Shimonoseki and on Kyushu was the larger port Kitakyushu. Both cities were connected by a series of tunnels and the Kanmonkyo Bridge (1). There were red ships, soldiers, tanks, artillery, and planes that represented Chinese and North Korean units; blue marked NATO.

"This will be called Operation: Kamikaze (2)," she said, "It will involve two main strike forces: one from the south attacking Kitakyushu and one from the north attacking Shimonoseki. In addition the 2nd Escort Fleet and the US 7th Fleet will be supporting.

We follow the US 132nd Armor Battalion of the 100th Mechanized Infantry Brigade into the Shimonoseki into suburbs and into the downtown area. The US 215th Artillery Battalion will provide additional support for both us and the Americans. Intelligence has pinpointed the PKA's HQ in the Kin Omizu Hotel. Once that is secured we'll leave the Americans and move the west harbor area and push for the Chinese positions where we will attack the PLA HQ," she said.

On the screen the following objectives were displayed: 1. Breach the outer defenses, 2. clear all enemy resistance, 3. seize PKA HQ, 4. link up with the German 21st Panzergrenadier Regiment, 5. clear and secure the docks, and 6. seize the PLA HQ.

"Intelligence says the enemies' strength is two PKA airborne regiments and one PLA armor brigade. We hold air supremacy over Shimonoseki, but Communist still have a good deal of aircraft in Kitakyushu. Command says to beware of air and artillery attacks and even enemy reserves being airlifted from Kitakyushu," Major Daijin took a deep breath. "D-Day (Deployment Day) is set for the 24th, H Hour 0600. Good luck ladies and gentlemen, I'll see you in Shimonoseki. The Emperor's flag will fly over this entire nation once more."

A deafening cheer shook the parking garage and sent several birds in the area in flight.

Major Daijin bowed and then flung her arms into the air and shouted, "Banzai!"

Her soldiers copied suit, some raising their guns too, and roared, "BANZAI!"

"Banzai!" she shouted again.

"BANZAI!" the 27th roared.

"Banzai!"

"BANZAI!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**0600 Hours, July 24****th****, 2010; 2km outside of Shimonoseki city limits; Yamaguchi Prefecture; Japan**

"It's 0600! Start your engines!" shouted Captain Hitsugaya to Echo Company. The US 100th Armor Brigade and the 81st Heliborne/Armor Regiment were lined up along an elevated highway that circled around the suburbs of Shimonoseki.

The 27th's Type 73 APCs, HMMWVs, and newly acquired from the Canada LAV-25 and US Strykers rolled down a highway towards Shimonoseki.

"Kenji you're a little close to that Abram," said Hanai pointing to a US M1A2 Abram heavy tank that was in front of them.

"Hey if you want to drive, be my guest Haruki," said Harima in mock annoyance. Hanai smiled and then began to consulted his map.

"Seriously boys," said Jupei, "Me and the engineers don't want to the new bumper sticker on a US 70 ton tank."

"Got it," said Harima; he slowed the HMMWV down a little. The fire team and the engineer team were packed into a standard HMMWV with an M2 .50 caliber heavy machine gun; in the lane next to them and slightly ahead was Yamako who was driving a second HMMWV with the command team and assault team.

Kitsumori who was sitting in the turret heard the beat of chopper blades and turn to see dark greenish-brown AH-64D Apache Longbows with 'United States Army' written in black on the waist. Above, a squadron of USAF (United States Air Force) A-10 Thunderbolt-II and F-15E Strike Eagles raced by followed by Luftwaffe Tornado IDSs.

"Sure is a lot of air support," said Kitsumori to Shimazu as USAF F-15C Eagles and Luftwaffe EF-2000 Typhoons flew over head.

"Sure is," agreed Shimazu sitting in the open trunk with his M4A1 Carbine in his arms and the strap over his shoulder.

"Damn," whispered Yamako as he saw bombs detonating in the suburbs ahead. He couldn't help, but be annoyed that the Americans and German were bombing a Japanese city into oblivion. 'Well… it could be worse, B-52s would level Shimonoseki,' he thought.

"2nd platoon," said a voice over the radio mounted in the HMMWVs, "proceed to exit 5 and then exit the highway with the American 4th and 5th platoons."

Asou picked up the transmitter and said, "5th squad copies, over. Echo 5-1 out."

They approached Exit 5 and followed a US M2A3 Bradley IFV down the ramp to street level. Asou was comforted by the sight of two US AH-64Ds circling protectively around them.

They drove down a street with two Bradleys and three M113A2 Garvin leading and two M60A5 Patton medium tanks and a four M939 Duce-and-a-Half troop trucks with M2 .50 cals mounted; 5th squads HMMWVs and 4th LAV-25s and 6th squads Strykers were in between the Bradleys and Pattons.

"RPG!" shouted an American GI (3). Although it was hard to see the rocket they could see the smoke trail plain as day.

"Hang on!" shouted Harima as he swerved to avoid the rocket. The HMMWV plowed into a newspaper dispenser knocking it several feet down the street and sending old newspapers flying in all directions.

"Dismount!" roared Hanai. Harima grabbed his Type 89 assault rifle off the dashboard and rolled out of the driver side door. Shimazu and his engineers dived out of the trunk into a doorway. Kitsumori slung his FN Minimi over his shoulders and hoisted himself out of the gunner's hatch.

"More incoming!" shouted a 6th squad soldier. It hit a Stryker and exploded, flames and cries came from the destroyed APC.

"Shit!" shouted Abarai when a chuck of the armor from the exploding armored vehicle jammed in the mailbox he was hiding behind, nearly impaling his head. The familiar chatter of AK-47s echoed from up the street. Green tracer zoomed down the street. The US GIs climbed out of the Garvins, Bradleys, and Duce-and-a-Halfs and sought shelter behind their armor. They started shooting back with their M-16A4s assault rifles, M60 light machine guns, MP-5 SMGs, M-14 rifles, and M4A1 carbines. The Japanese soldiers opened up with their Type 89 assault rifles, MP-5s, FN Minimi light machine guns, and M4A1 carbines.

"I can't see them," shouted Kurosaki.

"Aim for the muzzle flashes," yelled Harima firing signal shots at windows where the PKA paratroopers were shooting from.

Ishida adjusted his x8 zoom scope and scanned the buildings down the street. He saw a crouched PKA paratrooper reaching for an AT-rocket from his pack and loaded it onto his RGP-7. Ishida fired a signal shot at the soldier, but missed. The PKA soldier hearing the noise from the 7.62x51mm steel jacketed match cartridge hitting the wall behind him look over his shoulder. He turned and looked unknowingly into Ishida's eyes. Ishida fired a second shot in between his eyes; Ishida stared numbly at the sudden shift from life to death in the soldier's eyes, from confusion to an empty stare with traces of shock.

"Andy, get a round on that building!" shouted an American Sergeant Major at a tank commander who gave him a two fingered salute in acknowledgment. The Patton's turret turned and fired an HE round at a two story building, blowing truck size hole in the outer wall.

"5th squad, follow me and stay close to the wall!" shouted Asou waving his left hand to get his squad's attention. They moved quickly, keeping low. Asou stopped, looked to his right into a book store, and then dropped to his stomach as a volley of bullets nearly ripped his head off.

"Frag 'em!" he shouted. Abarai, who was standing behind Kurosaki, pulled an M67 frag grenade off his vest, pulled the pin, and tossed it to Kurosaki who threw it into the store without exposing his head. They were greeted by the sounds of splintering wood, pages ripping, and screams of pain.

Asou rolled onto his back, sat up, and aimed his rifle into the store. He paused, scanning, he was movement and he fired through a shelf; a PKA soldier collapsed from behind a shelf. Asou pushed open what remained of the store door while Yamako and Kaoji covered him and Ishida covering the street.

Ikuro took the lead and lead Abarai down towards the counter while Kurosaki and Kotai peeked around the isles.

A crashing sound echoed as a PKA paratrooper kicked a door open. 5th squad dived into a prone position as the heavy 7.62x39mm rounds ripped through the shelves, sending pages from shredded books raining down on the floor. There was a pause as he reloaded and Kotai seized an opportunity to take him down. He stuck his head around a battered bookshelf and raised his Type 89 assault rifle. The PKA soldier was faster then Kotai and he drew a TT-54 and fired 4 shots.

"Kotai? Are you okay?" asked Kurosaki. Kotai keeled over onto the floor, a large pool of deep red blood formed around him and his eyes were wide in surprise. Kurosaki stared in horror, but the sound the metallic click of a bolt and he instinctively dropped to his belly just before more bursts of automatic fire came.

"Die GI! Die!" shouted a second PKA in broken English as he and a third soldier joined the rifleman who had 5th squad pinned.

"GET DOWN!" shouted someone. The few soldiers still standing dropped to their feet without question. The dull beat of a much heavier gun pounded, it didn't just rip through the store shelves, it shattered them completely. 5 seconds, the bookshelves were reduced to a heap of splinters and shredded paper. A LAV-25 with its 25mm chain gun destroyed the store and the PKA paratroopers with it.

"Hanai, check the upstairs, Ikuro check the back… Kurosaki what happen to Kotai?" asked Asou.

"That rifleman got him, he was too quick," he said numbly.

"Oh… gomen, but we need to keep moving into town."

"I understand."

"Building's clear Sergeant Asou," said Hanai.

"Okay… Harima is your HMMWV still operational?" asked Asou.

"Hai, I only hit one of those newspaper machines," Harima said with a shrug.

"Okay, mount up and roll out, this was probably only a guard post."

The fire team and engineer team climbed into their HMMWV; Harima gunned the engine and pulled up next to the second HMMWV. They followed the American's past a few more building and into a residential area. The residential area was full of normal Japanese two story signal-family homes surrounded by concrete walls. A US OH-58 Kiowa Warrior scout/spotter helicopter flew over, stopped, and scanned the area with its sensory equipment.

The US GIs dismounted from their APCs, trucks, and IFVs. They started to kick gates open and search houses. 5th squad continued driving down the street and circled the block. Hanai had tuned the radio to the news and he and the other were listening to the reporter:

"Talks between the nations of Serbia and Albania continue to drag on as neither side seems willing to come to an agreement; the fate of Kosovo, years after the Kosovo War, is still undetermined. In addition, Serbia has launched an invasion of Macedonia and Bosnia. Large casualties are reported as Serbian soldiers march forward. Serbian leader President Mikosvič declares he is reforming the former and once glorious Socialist Federation Republic of Yugoslavia that Josip Broz Titŏ ruled.

Protests break out in southern France as railroad workers demand higher wages from the French government; the French government responds by saying they have given them more than enough pay, but as strikers literally block rail traffic and it is expect that the French will give in.

And now for North American news, large scale demonstrations over the right of gay and lesbian rights to marriage are in their 5th straight day over a US Supreme Court case that could give gays and lesbians the right to marriage. More details this evening.

In Mexico City, a gas explosion has cause millions in damage to the industrial area; the death toll is currently at 22 workers; another 17 workers are uncounted for at this time.

The Gulf of Mexico braces itself for another hurricane season as some areas, such as New Orleans, have not fully recovered from Hurricane Katrina.

And now for national news; the Diet has announced that Federal funds will be given to families who lost homes or curtain property in the southern part of the nation as a result of the invasion.

The Diet has also given all NATO solders the authority to take criminals into custody in areas where law enforcement is under strength or non-existed, but only as long as they are turned over to our nation's police in stable regions.

Hakodate's (4) air raid warning has turned out to be a misunderstanding. A civilian volunteer had mistaken a squadron of US F-15s for what he had thought were Chinese planes.

Turkish and Canadian soldiers announced the successful liberation of Fukuoka; field reporters expect a strike on the final Communist holdouts in Kitakyushu and Shimonoseki soon.

On a lighter note, Nintendo has announced a bold new system to further the success of the Wii. Sony has announced the release date of the Playstation 4…"

"I guess they haven't heard that it's started," said Shino, referring to the war, not the Wii or PS4.

"More likely they're not allowed to report it just yet," said Kitsumori from the gunner's turret.

"Hey is that a… UAZ!" shouted Harima. Kitsumori took aim at the small scout vehicle that had pulled out in front of them. The UAZ hadn't seen them and were caught off guard by .50 cals; it crashed into a wall. Harima pull up next to it and Hanai leaned out the window pointing the Type-54 had found long ago in Korea.

"No movement, let's keep moving," said Shimazu.

"5th squad, the American's 4th and 5th platoons have checked and cleared the houses here," said Lt. Hashigawa; 2nd platoon leader. "What's your status?"

"We've taken out an enemy UAZ, sir," said Asou via the radio from his HMMWV. "It looks like they were just a patrol."

"Anything else?"

"Negative, lieutenant."

Harima and Yamako drove back to the US Bradleys, Duce-and-a-Halfs, and Garvins; the Pattons and Apaches positioned to defend the embarking troops.

They drove down the street again.

"Lt. Ovens, this is Red Eye; you're approaching a hostile defensive line up ahead. They got a ZSU-57-2 so I can't get any closer than the Apaches, over," said the spotter Kiowa Warrior to an American officer.

"What did they say?" asked Harima; other shrugged because they couldn't speak English any better than Harima could.

"Er… 2nd platoon?" said a voice over the radio in broken Japanese. "The… uh… enemy is ahead and we need… to um… what's the fucking word… need to flank them, over."

"Understood, sir," said Lt. Hashigawa.

Harima parked his HMMWV behind Yamako's. They dismounted and walked down the street following 4th squad. A 4th squad soldier kicked someone's front gate open and went into a front yard. They ran around the house and out the back gate into an alley way.

"This is it," said Lt. Hashigawa. He slowly opened a gate into some person's backyard, raised his Glock P-21, and peek inside. He fired a shot into the back of an unsuspecting PKA paratrooper and a second into the chest of a second soldier. "What are you waiting for?! Go!"

One by one, 4th and 5th squads filed through the gate and a garden to the house's back wall. A PKA soldier with an RPK light machine gun popped out of a second story window and shot a 4th squad soldier in the face and hitting Gawaki in the leg. Gawaki fell, his leg unable to support his body weight, he was dangerously exposed.

Kurosaki as he went through the gate saw Gawaki; he paused, aimed his M203 at the window where the PKA paratrooper was, and fired a frag grenade. Abarai ran past Kurosaki, slung his rifle over his shoulder, and dragged Gawaki to shelter. A second paratrooper leaned out of a kitchen window with a PPsh-41 and sprayed 7.62x25mm rounds until Harima, as he entered the yard, put a bullet in his head.

"There inside, someone get blow this door open," demanded Lt. Hashigawa.

"But their might be civilians inside," said Shimazu; past memories coming to mind.

"Fine, but get that door open!" he shouted.

Shimazu took out his Remington 870 and fired a 12 gauge magnum into the door latch. Reimaru with his MP-5 and Shino with his M4A1 moved inside with the assault team following.

"Sayonara, Jap bastards!"

Harima jumped back from the doorway as a paratrooper fired an AK-47 at the doorway; he could feel the side of his neck burning and something warm trickling down his neck.

"Kenji, you're bleeding," Hanai said as though he was telling Harima about tomorrow's weather.

Harima ran a hand across his neck, looked at his hand, and in the same calm tone as Hanai, "So I am."

"I got him!" shouted Jupei. Harima moved inside with Hanai, Jupei, and Kitsumori close behind. They started to check the house for more soldiers.

"Upstairs is clear," Ikuro said as she led her team back downstairs. They looked outside and saw in the driveway a ZSU-57-2. Harima pulled out his AT4, Hanai got out the second rocket for a quick reload. Jupei took the butt of her Type 89 assault rifle and smashed a window open.

"Fire!" shouted Hanai.

Harima shot an 84mm anti-tank rocket. It hit the mobile AA in the turret and blasted the crew into the air.

"Kaoji!" shouted Asou once he saw that the AA was destroyed.

"On it," he said. He got on his radio and then said in English, "This is Echo 5-2, we've destroyed the AA, over."

"Rodger, Echo 5-2, painting targets, Red Eye out."

The Kiowa Warrior zoomed in, using its laser designator it marked targets for the Apaches. The AH-64Ds, once they acquired targets, fired Maverick AGM-65s that flew straight through the air and then came down on top of their intended targets.

"This is 5th squad; Echo Company, we need a med-evac (medical evacuation) for a wounded man on the ground, over," said Kaoji.

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**1330 Hours; July 24th, 2010; Suburbs of Shimonoseki, Japan  
**

A HMMWV with Captaion Hitsugaya pulled up to where 2nd platoon was eating launch. He spoke with 2nd Lt. Hashigawa: "Give me a SITREP."

"4th squad lost 3 soldiers and 1 wounded, but she can still fight. 5th squad lost a man and had 1 wounded who had to be evaced. 6th squad has 1 wound who had to be evaced too, but no KIAs (Killed in Action)," said Lt. Hashigawa.

"I see, good work," said Captain Hitsugaya nodding in approval.

"Captain, what's the rest of the company doing?"

Captain Hitsugaya sighed and then said, "1st Lt. Matsumoto is leading 1st platoon about 8 blocks over and 2nd Lt. Haiyato is leading 3rd platoon 10 blocks the other way. Both have encountered moderate resistance, but the 132nd Armor Battalion thinks their will more as we push out of the suburbs and I'm sure they're right."

"I concur too, sir."

"Enemy Mi-8 Hips have been spotted shuttling PKA squads to where we strike and Foxglove Company got it by a group of Mi-24 Hinds," continued the Captain.

"And the Germans, sir?" prompted 2nd Lt. Hashigawa.

"They're moving slowly, granted, they are facing much heavier resistance than we our. Apparently the PLA is throwing an entire regiment at them, but the 21st Panzergrenadiers are still advancing. We need to break out of the suburbs and into the city before nightfall."

"Hai!" said Hashigawa saluting Captain Hitsugaya.

* * *

This is going to be a long battle; I'm going to have to spread it out over several chapters. I should have another chapter up soon. Thanks for reading and please review. 

Appendix

1. All of the four major island of Japan are connected by road and railroad tunnels and bridges that cross the gaps between the islands. I think, however, that the bridge that connects Shikoku to Awaji (which is connected by bridge to Honshu) is still under construction, but expected to be complete in the near future.

2. When I say Kamikaze IT DO NOT MEAN THE SUICIDE PILOTS! Kami mean god or spirit (pending on the Kanji character) and Kaze means wind. Kamikaze is commonly known as the Japanese pilots who flew into US ships from 1944 to 1945 (before which the Kamikaze pilots did **not** officially exist). They name and the name I'm using comes from a typhoon that struck the Sea of Japan and destroyed Kublai Khan's invasion fleet and saving Japan from Mongolian invasion.

3. GI stands for General Infantry, meaning the basic foot soldier of the US Army.

4. Hakodate is a city in northern Japan and is located on the southern part of the island of Hokkaido; it is one of Hokkaido's largest cities. Sapporo is the largest city on Hokkaido.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya


	21. Chapter 21: Suburban Warfare

This battle is going to take up a few chapters so stand by for more. Thanks for still reading my story. I don't own either School Rumble or Bleach, please review.

* * *

**Chapter 21: Suburban Warfare**

"The war has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage."

Deceased Japanese Emperor Hirohito; in the middle year of World War II

**1305 Hours, July 24****th****, 2010; Shimonoseki's suburbs; Yamaguchi Prefecture; Japan**

"Okay, mount up!" shouted 2nd Lt. Hashigawa to 2nd platoon. 5th squad packed up their meals and climbed into their respective HUMMWVs.

The fire team and engineer team were still listening to the news as Harima followed the US M113 Garvin APCs and M2A3 IFVs, "Chaos erupts in Chechnya as Chechnyan separatists launch a mass offensive against the stationed Soviet units. The Kremlin is currently suppressing reports from the Caucasus so little information is available at this time.

A minor incident involving an illegal border crossing occurred earlier today on the German-Polish border. A man is confirmed to have been shot and killed by German soldiers. The Chancellery claims that the soldiers were thought to be Soviet Special Forces, an unconfirmed report says another man was shot by Soviet soldiers as he tried to cross the border."

"I don't get it," said Kurosaki. "It's just a border, why the shooting?"

"I read about it in a book once," said Harima remembering the text he read for his final test; before the war, "It's the border that separates the Warsaw Pack and NATO, there's suppose to by thousands of soldiers on both sides of the border. What those people did was practically suicide."

The reporter continued, "In Islamabad, Pakistani Police arrest terrorist suspects during a raid. They claim that they have uncovered a large scale plot to overthrow the government. Other world leaders comment that Pakistan is using the cover of terrorist to eliminate political enemies.

Another bomb shatters the peaceful early morning hours of Jerusalem when a bus was blown up by Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, reports state that because it was done so early in the morning the bus was not very crowded and few people were kill. Israel demands that Lebanon either take action to suppress Hezbollah or the Israelis will deal with them.

A major breakthrough in the talks between Turkey and Kurdistan over the border dispute occurred yesterday after the United States and its allies applied pressure the two nations to come to an agreement on a ceasefire between the nations…"

"RPG!" shouted an American. A rocket flew through the air and hit an one of the American Bradleys , however, it did little to the well armored IFV. Kitsumori started shooting heavy machine gun rounds at a pile of bricks, scrap metal, wood, concrete slabs, and other junk to form a makeshift roadblock/defensive position.

"Sniper!" shouted a soldier as a high velocity bullet nearly rips her head off.

Ishida was his M21 semi-auto rifle and searched for a PKA sniper. He saw a flash from a scope reflecting light.

"I see him," said Ishida; he fired a shot.

"Dismount and take firing positions!" shouted Asou as he ran out of his HUMMWV with the assault team and command team. Hanai and Shimazu led their respective teams along the left side of the street until they reached the American APCs and IFVs.

"This is Crow 2-3, someone mark that roadblock," said a voice over one of the Americans' radios.

"Rodger Crow 2-3, marking target with laser designator," said a radioman who was pulling out a box like object with a pistol grip. Mavericks streaked through the air, blowing the roadblock apart and sending debris raining down on the street.

An Apache flew up, its 30mm turning left and right in search of targets. Suddenly an RPG flew from a rooftop and hit the unsuspecting AH-64D in the tail, disabling its stabilizer prop. Like a scene out of 'Black Hawk Down' the Apache Longbow spun and crashed somewhere out of sight.

"We have an Apache down, Crow 2-4 is down, over," said a voice over the radio.

"Crow 2-3, can you conform the status of the crew, over?"

"Negative, enemy with a Gainful, over."

"Rodger… well send a squad to secure the crash sight."

An American squad moved into a shop; Asou, being directed by Lt. Hashigawa, followed. They ran through a barbershop, into the backroom, past a group of civilians, and out the backdoor into an alley. A doorway open and a man waved them in.

They obeyed the man's gesture and entered the back of a fastfood restaurant. They followed the man past a group of people hiding from the Communist soldiers, he pointed outside to the twisted fuselage of a US AH-64D Apache Longbow lying in the track field of a Jr. high school.

"Arigato, oji-san (uncle or middle-aged man)," said Asou as they exited the fastfood restaurant, crossed the street, and through the school gates. An echoing bang caused them to drop to the prone position.

"Sniper!"

"Sniper!"

Ishida put a bullet in the head of a PKA paratrooper with an old with an old Russia built bolt-action rifle.

The beat of chopper blames caused them to look up and Yamako said, "Those ain't ours."

A Mi-8 Hip flew over with its gunners shooting while PKA paratroopers slid down on ropes. The Hip flew away while still laying down suppressing fire for its soldiers, it was soon out of sight.

Both sides lock into a deadly shootout in the open; horribly aware of who exposed they were on the field. In this situation it came down to who was most daring/stupid, which was better trained, and most of all who had more accurate weapons. The North Koreans were more daring and willing to do reckless things, but the US M-16A4, even though it lacked full-auto fire mode, was far more accurate than the AK-47 could ever hope to be. A couple of GIs were shot up by PKA firing, but the PKA were cut to shreds.

Asou led use men to the Apache Longbow; Harima looked in and then had the barrel of a Berretta M92 aimed at his forehead by the pilot. Harima was confused and shocked. He then noticed that the pilot eyes were out of focus and he was bleeding from the head; the pilot may not be able to see Harima was Japanese and not a North Korean or Chinese.

"Easy now, I'm a Japanese," said Harima.

The pilot heard, "Iē, watashi wa Hihonjin desu" which didn't make him any less scared.

He blinked; he could see that he was looking at an Asian male, that the guy was built like a tank, and that he had a rifle held in his right hand. 'Why isn't he shooting me?' he wondered. Things were getting blurry and his hand was shaking because he'd lost so much blood.

"I helpo yu," Harima said in what he hoped was 'I'm here to help you.'

It was close enough and the pilot holstered his gun, Kitsumori and Harima pulled him out of the chopper and set him on the ground. The gunner/co-pilot, who sat forward the pilot, was slumped over his consol, smeared in grey brain matter and dark red blood; he was clearly crushed to death on impact.

"Is my friend okay?" asked the pilot slowly; he could tell at the least that English was not Harima's first language. Harima pause, the only thought on his mind was, 'Shit I wished I'd paid better attention in English class, then I'd know what he was saying.'

"He… okay?" the pilot repeated, pointing to the chopper. Harima shook his head.

The sound of an incoming chopper caused everyone to look around again; a US Navy SH-60 Sea Hawk was bringing itself in for a landing on the race track. Harima grabbed the pilot under the arms and Kitsumori grabbed him by the ankles. They carried him over to the Sea Hawk. A US Navy medic jumped off the chopper with a stretcher and ha Harima and Kitsumori to put the pilot on it.

"Good luko," Harima said to the injured pilot before they closed the Sea Hawk's doors and flew off to an off shore hospital ship. Harima made a mental note to learn English.

As the sound of the beat of the chopper faded, the sound of a creaking/clanking noise grew.

"That sounds like a tank," said Yamako.

"That sounds like a Russia model," said an American corporal, "Arm that SMAW."

"Kenji, I think you need to get the AT4 out," said Hanai.

"Way ahead of you."

Harima hid behind the AH-64D, ready to ambush the tank. A Soviet built T-54 with PKA markings and an Ural with a PKA soldier manning a Soviet model .50 cal (1). Harima fired a rocket an 84mm rocket at the tank, but missed. The rocket slammed into the cab of the Ural killing the driver, gunner, and the infantry who hadn't dismounted. The T-54 wheeled its 100mm to face Harima.

The blast sent Harima flying through the air. He landed on his back, hard; white noise filling his ears and his vision was blurred. He heard the MG open up as the tank tried to finish him off. There was a terrifying moment as he heard bullets hitting ground next to him, then there was an explosion, and then everything was silent.

Harima staggered to his feet, the American with the SMAW had destroyed the tank.

"Harima! We need to keep moving," shouted Asou as he led 5th squad out of the school yard and deeper into Shimonoseki. They ran back to their HUMMWVs and followed the US down the street.

An A-10 Thunderbolt II roared over head as they followed the M60A5s; they medium tanks were now taking the lead while the APCs and IFVs trailed after them. Artillery rumbled in the distance and gunfire chattered all around; the sounds of a city under siege.

Suddenly the houses ended and a ground level highway lay in their path; behind concrete medians, US GIs fired at PKA soldiers and armor that had taken up defensive positions on the opposite side of the highway. An M1A2 Abram took a hit to the spot where the chassis meets the turret, a weak point on most tanks, which blew a hole in the tank. They could tell that the crew was in all probability dead.

"That must be their last line of defense for the suburbs," said Ikuro.

"So it seems," agreed Asou ducking as a bullet ricocheted off a HUMMWV.

They used the open doors as a shield as they fired at the PKA soldiers. A TOW missile streaked past them resulting in the destruction of an AT gun. Dirt, dust, and missile contrails were starting to shroud both sides; at intervals green lights would come from eerie outlines of hostile soldiers.

A group of Mi-8 Hips flew in from somewhere deep in the city and began to deploy PKA reinforcements via ropes, some had free-flight rocket pods mounted and started to fire wildly at US and Japanese soldiers taking a few vehicles and tanks with them. A US M6 Linebacker (2) with a barrage of Stingers and knocking 4 Hips out of sky.

"Hinds!" screamed a GI as PKA Mi-24 Hinds flew into the area, 12.7mm quad-guns blazing. The Linebacker stuck on Hind in the tail, disabling the stabilizer prop, and sending the Hind into an increasingly violent spin. The remaining Hinds shattered the Linebacker in a rain of free-flight rockets (3).

"I need air support at position, Blue 42, Yellow 11," shouted Kaoji into his radio inside the HUMMWV while Abarai blasted away with the Browning M2 .50 cal. Ishida looked through his scope, trying to identify targets. The others fired at muzzle flashes hoping to hit enemy infantry.

A roar, several explosions, and the Hinds going down in flames signaled the presence of USAF F-15Cs. A flight of F-15Es that were following the F-15Cs dropped CBU-87 Cluster Bombs. A flume of fire emerge from a T-54 when a Sabot from a US M1A2. US Abrams and Pattons were rolling onto the highway; a fresh company was surging forward.

Japanese Type 90s from the 28th Armored Battalion rolled by them. The enemy's line of defense was broken.

They looked out onto the sky, into the first signs of evening were visible. They had done it; they breached the outer defenses on the first day. It was a short-lived victory though. The PKA was not going to let them just stroll into their HQ; surely there will be heavier defenses ahead.

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**2400 Hours, July 25****th****, 2005; western edge of Seto Inland Sea; 40km east of Kanmon Strait**

2nd Lieutenant Soifon sat quietly in her seat as a USN SH-60 Sea Hawk carried them to an unknown rendezvous point with a US special forces unit.

"Lieutenant?" asked a muscular man seated across from her.

"Hai, Sergeant Major Togo?"

"Why are we meeting with the Americans?"

"I wasn't given that information," she said curtly; she hated not being told what she was being asked to do, but that was the price she paid for being in the Japanese Special Forces.

"I sure well be told upon arrival," said a stoic woman with very short reddish-purple hair.

"I'm sure we will, Master Sergeant Takano," said Togo to Takano.

"Oi, we're at the rendezvous point," said the co-pilot to the 'passengers.' A huge mass rose out of the sea, it appeared to be a submarine, but it was way too large. Doors open on the top of the sub and a row of lights appeared revealing a flight deck.

Soifon and Togo stared in absolute shock, Takano even showed more emotion than usual. The chopper landed on the deck and ground crew scrambled to stow the chopper for later missions. Above the doors closed and a jerk told them that they were now submerging.

"Welcome," said a deep voice behind them. Soifon turned to a burly man who appeared to be in his 40's with graying hair and a mustache and beard. "I am Commander Andrei Kalinin, commader of this sub's strike teams. I would like to be the first to welcome you to the SCVN-01 Tuatha de Danaan (4)."

"I am Lt. Soifon of the Japanese Special Forces, these are my best operatives: Master Sergeant Takano Akira and Sergeant Major Togo Masakazu," said Soifon with a salute to the US Navy officer.

"Please, follow me," he said leading them deeper into the Danaan. They entered a briefing room that was already filled with US soldiers wearing a gold eagle insignia holding an old flint-lock pistol and a trident in its talons (5) on their collars; US Navy SEALs. Takano sat down next to a stoic faced man with dark blackish-brown hair and a cross shaped scar on his cheek. Next to him was a man with long blond hair and blue eyes and on his right was a woman with dark purplish hair, smoking a cigarette.

A man with short black hair and with thick framed glasses wearing a hat that read 'HMS Turbulent' stepped into the room and held the door open for a petite girl with white hair in a braided ponytail. She held a file folder under her arm and had a Walther PPK in a holster at her hip.

"Is that a captain's insignia?" asked Togo, "She looks like she's barely 16."

"This place seems to be full of surprises," she Takano.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen, to our guests, I am Captain Teletha Testarossa," said the girl giving a small polite smile.

"Now I understand it that you Ms. Soifon was trained by the US Delta Forces and that you Mr. Togo lived in the United States and you Ms. Takano have sent a lot of time over seas. It is safe to assume that you all speak English?" asked Captain Testarossa. They nodded in response.

"Very good then," she said with a sweet smile. Her face shifted to something more serious as she began to brief her soldiers, "Navy Intelligence says that Beijing will not evacuate Lt. General Zhanghe's surviving soldiers, rather, he has been told to fight to the last man. With little in the way of options, Zhanghe appears to be preparing to fight to as ordered with everything he has. Tonight, at 0400 Hours were will deploy Uruz Team and our guests, Sinzyu Team. First we will insert a team underwater, then we will infiltrate the enemy HQ, and we will incapacitate Lt. General Zhanghe. You will secure an EZ (extraction zone) for Gabe Squadron, Teiwaz Squadron will provide gunship support if need, but I would like to maintain a low profile in this mission, understood?"

They nodded. "Good, prepare for your mission, good luck to all of you."

"Ma'am!" they said in unison while snapping to attention.

* * *

Took me a while to think of how to put Full Metal Panic into my story, but I did it. I'm gonna' have to make a few changes to the characters rolls since the ASs that appear in the show do not appear in my story. So instead of them being some kind of super mercenary organization, they're US Navy SEALs. I don't own Full Metal Panic, please review.

Appendix

1. The T-54 and a variation called the T-55 are a Soviet built tank introduced in the 1950s. It is still used in small numbers in Russia and several other countries; probably the most widely used tank in the world and one of the principle tanks of the PKA. The Ural is the Soviet equivalent of the US M939 Duce-and-a-Half truck; it's used around the world by numerous countries. The Soviet's have a .50 caliber cartridge use by curtain sniper rifles and heavy machine guns like in NATO, though they are of a different length.

2. The M6 Linebacker is a variation of the M2 Bradley Infantry Assault Vehicle. The US was developing a mobile anti-air vehicle called the Sergeant York, but after wasting a lot of money (military does that a lot) they made the Linebacker. The Linebacker looks just like the standard Bradley, but instead of 2 TOW launchers it had 4 Stinger surface to air missiles and it can raise its 30mm chain gun to a higher elevation so it can engage aircraft. The Linebacker is in games like Battlefield 2 as the USMCs AA vehicle.

3. A lot of the Soviet helicopters use barrages of free-flight rockets instead of a few guided missiles like in NATO; particularly the US. Soviet style of warfare is to overwhelm their enemies with huge numbers and a massive volume of firepower. Recent models like the Mi-28 Havoc (used in Russia only) and the Ka-50/52 Hokum (used in Russia (Russia only) deploy NATO's style of fighting, using small numbers to destroy their enemies with pinpoint shooting.

4. Andrei is a fictional character from Full Metal Panic and the Tuatha de Danaan is the submarine in the show. CVN is the designation for a nuclear powered aircraft carrier; by adding an S in front of CVN I think it would designate a nuclear powered submarine carrier.

5. The insignia mentioned above is the actual insignia wore by US Navy SEALs.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya


	22. Chapter 22: Silent Night

I've done infantry fights, dogfights, and even a navel battle, now I doing a covert mission in my story. I hope ya'll are familiar to Full Metal Panic, if not then watch because it's a good show. I now have the have the longest School Rumble fanfic on how cool is that… well not really, but an accomplishment none the less.

I don't own School Rumble, Bleach, or Full Metal Panic. Please review.

Have a happy Thanksgiving ya'll.

* * *

**Chapter 22: Silent Night**

"Nighttime it the best time to work. All these ideas are there to be yours because everyone else is asleep."

Catherine O'Hara

**USS Tuatha de Danaan (SCVN-01); 0200 Hours; July 25****th****, 2010; location classified**

(AN: Assume that the following conversations in this chapter are in English unless said otherwise.)

Sinzyu team and part of Uruz were seated in the mess hall getting an early breakfast.

"I am Master Chief Petty Officer Melissa Mao; this is Petty Officer 1st Class Kurtz Weber, Petty Officer 2nd Class Sousuke Sagara, and Petty Officer 2nd Class Ari Pamuk (1)," said a woman with short purplish hair. "We will be your escort to the objective area."

"Thank you, if you don't mind I would like to know a little about who I am going to be working with," said 2nd Lt. Soifon.

"Of course, I am Mao; I was born in Baltimore, Maryland of the United States. I was in the Marine Corps before I transferred to SOCOM. I've been in operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Columbia, Kurdistan, and Pakistan. My team and I also fought in the first days of the invasion of Korea."

"I'm Kurtz Weber, but you can call me Kurtz pretty lady," said the blond man who received a blow to the head from Mao. "Ow… anyways I was born in Tokyo, believe it or not. My family is originally from Germany and they moved me back at an early age. Through some very complex circumstances I got a chance to join the US Navy SEALs and I signed on. I served in operations in the same areas as Big Sis here" He received another blow to the head.

"I'm Air Pamuk, I from Kurdistan. I was in a militia during and fought against the Iraqi Army during the 1990 Gulf War. I left my homeland when the UN Coalition withdrew in 91'. I signed onto the SEALs and I've been was in operations in Somalia, Lebanon, and Kazakhstan," said a Middle Eastern man neatly trimmed thick black hair.

The last man was quiet for a while and then said in a monotone, "I'm… uh… Sousky Seagal, known now as Sousuke Sagara. I was born in small town in Sakhalin, Russia. My parents died in a plane crash and I was found in the wreckage by Spetsnaz and was sent to a state orphanage. Later I was put in a program run by the Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (KGB) and trained to be an assassin."

"And?" said Takano, clearly interested in Sousuke's story.

He looked at her, then looked down and continued, "I failed my first mission and was captured by a Bosnian militia. Because of my age, my captures took pity on me and they raised me as their own. I've been in shootouts with the Serbs, Croats, and Bosnians for years. About a year and a half ago I met a US Delta Operators in the Bosnian capitol, he helped me escape to the NATO zones. They inspired me to join the US military… and now I'm here."

He showed Takano a picture of an Asian 2nd Lt. and a Caucasian Master Sergeant; the 2nd Lt. had black hair and dark brown eyes and had a fresh cut across his face and a deeper one on his neck. The Master Sergeant had a light blondish-brown hair and grey eyes and a small burn on his neck. A third man, who appeared to be Slavic or Russian was poking at pot of stew. Sagara was seated next to the Asian male; the cross shaped scar look like it was fresh when the photo was taken. They were sitting around a small portable gas stove.

"Who are they?" she asked.

"Classified," he said in the same monotone.

"So what about you guys?" asked Master Chief Mao.

"I am 2nd Lieutenant Soifon, I was born in Kobe. I was trained by Task Force Delta and went on to train our own commandos. I specialize in stealthy insertions, disabling electronic systems, and leading teams."

"I'm Sergeant Major Masakazu Togo, I was born in Japan, but I was raised in the US. I'm a skilled weapons specialist and good at impersonating people."

"I'm Master Sergeant Akira Takano; I was born in Yagami, Japan. I've done a few things with guns and covert warfare in the past, but I can't really tell you about it. I'm a skilled field agent."

"I see, well you're going to be using equipment cursory of Uncle Sam," said Mao opening the door to the armory. Racks of US, German, British, French, China, and Russia lined the walls. New model Colt M-16A5, H&K G-53s, G-53Ks, G-36Es, G-36Ks, MP-5s, MP-5Ks, Steyr AUGs, FAMASs, and numerous other guns from 1947 to this year lay gleaming.

Sagara grabbed a Bennelli M3 Super 90 semi-auto shotgun with stock with hinges that folded to the side, a Glock P-26, a G-36K, and silencers for the pistol and assault rifle.

Weber grabbed a Barret M82A1A, a SIG Sauer P-229, a P-90, and silencers.

Pamuk grabbed a MP-5 SD, a SIG Sauer P-229, a M3 Super 90, and a pistol silencer.

Mao grabbed a G-36K, H&K Mk. 23 SD, M3 Super 90, and a rifle silencer.

Togo went with an H&K G-53 SD and a Desert Eagle DE .50 handgun.

Soifon selected an MP-5 SD and a Glock P-26.

Takano after much thought went with an H&K MP-5K SD, a Colt .45 with silencer, and M-16A5. She knew it was suppose to replace the current M-16A4, it featured full auto fire mode, it had hinges so the stock could be folded to the side like on the G-36 or AK-101, and that it had a reduced number of parts so it required less maintenance. She also grabbed a x8 zoom laser dot scope and a silencer.

In separate rooms they changed into wetsuits and sealed their weapons and equipment into watertight bags.

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**USS Tuatha de Danaan (SCVN-01); 0300 Hours; July 25****th****, 2010; sub's bridge**

"This is SSN-774 USS Virginia. We have docked and linked with the Danaan. Standing by for orders Captain, over," said man over a secure com-link.

"Very good Mr. Benson, please hold position, over," said Captain Testarossa. "Ensign, please link me with other commanders." Captain Testarossa commanded not only the carrier sub Danaan, she commanded two Virginia Class attack subs and one Ohio Class boomer sub (2).

"Aye, Captain."

"This is SSN-775 USS Texas, what do you need ma'am?" asked a female captain.

"The Virginia will take Uruz team the rest of the way, Ms. Blackwell please take up its position and hold escort formation, over."

"Aye, Captain."

"This is SSBN-727 USS Michigan," said a middle aged man.

"Mr. Randall, arm your missile bays with burst type ballistic missiles in case we are detected by hostile warships."

"Aye."

"Ma'am," said Commander Mardukas, "Should I tell the strike teams to board the Virginia?"

"Go ahead."

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"Hang on a sec while I open this bulkhead," said a crewman.

"Sure thing," said Ensign Clouseau.

"Got it," said the crewman as he opened the bulkhead revealing a ladder that descended to the Virginia which was linked below the Danaan. They started to climb down one by one.

"Good luck!" shouted the crewman before he sealed the bulkhead, a Virginia crewman did the same.

Uruz team and Sinzyu team waited in a waiting room until the Virginia could get close enough to shore.

"Is that the M-14?" asked Soifon to Clouseau who was cleaning it.

"Yes it is."

"Didn't the US retire that rifle after the Vietnam War?"

"They did, but President Crane cut some the military's budget to pay to clean up our nation after what Bush did to it. To save money the military is now upgrading old equipment like the M60A3 medium tank, the F-15, F-14, M-16, Iowa class battleships, and other weapons," he said.

"So how's it upgraded?"

"Well the original model was a semi-auto rifle, steel barrel and chamber, and wooden grip and stock. It also came with a 20 round clip. The new model uses similar materials that the G-36 and AK-10X series are made from; lighter metal alloys barrel, fiber glass and special plastics stock and grip. It's also now features select fire modes: semi-auto, 3 round burst, and full-auto. It also comes with a 30 round clip," he said handing rifle over to her for inspection.

She had fired an original one when she was learning to shoot and the first thing she noticed was how light it was. Still heavier than the M-16 or M4A1, but much light than what it use to be. The polished wooden sections were now replaced with an equally tough, much lighter dark-grey plastic, but the rifle looked pretty much the same.

"Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and even the Air Force are using these guns as automatic rifles to increase squads' firepower."

"Attention Uruz team and Sinzyu team, please proceed to bulkhead number 2, I repeat proceed to bulkhead number 2," said a voice over the intercom.

They were in the water; they were divided into 4 man teams. Each team was tethered together so they wouldn't be separated in the dark murky water. They were using a special compass to guide them to the insertion zone.

After a half hour they surfaced onto a small beach with a concrete seawall on the opposite side. They removed their wetsuits and tucked them into their packs. The removed their weapons and quickly assembled them.

Ensign Clouseau had his M-14 on his back and his MP-5 SD out; he was on point leading to the mission area. No one spoke, silence and avoiding the detection was what would keep them alive. Contrary to common belief, a spec ops soldier is not some super hero soldier who is the answer to every problem. They're a special type of warrior who is only useful in specific situations; when used in the proper circumstances they are the deadliest soldiers, but in the wrong circumstances they are soon-to-be corpses. Stealth, silence, surprise, and tactics are any commando, sniper, or spy's best friend.

They avoided the roads heading down alleys and sewer lines. They would occasionally they would see PKA patrols and AA emplacements.

They reached the Kin Omizu Hotel where Lt. General Zhanghe was supposed to be meeting with some of the PKA leaders. The Kin Omizu Hotel was a 30 story building nestled in between much taller building; a wise choice because it would make attacking the place from air almost impossible.

"Uruz 1, this is Uruz 4, there's one T-62 outside the main entrance. There is a machine nest on the balcony over the entrance and 20+ guards, over."

"This is Uruz 3, sniper in the building next door, corner window… uh 27th story."

"A BTR-70 is coming, looks like its patrolling the street. I also see an SA-8 Gecko at the end of the block with at least a squad defending it."

"Uruz 6 here, I can see guards patrolling on most floor of the hotel."

"Uruz 7 here, I don't see any Chinses uniforms."

"They may be keeping a low profile," said Ensign Clouseau, "Well I can't say I expected them to let us just march in. Uruz 6, 5, 8, and 9 take up sniping positions. Uruz 3, take your team and secure our escape route. The rest of you, on me."

"Rodger," they said quietly.

While Weber and Pamuk snuck into a building to get a good firing position, Mao led Sagara, Soifon, Togo, and Takano into the sewer. They surfaced in the parking garaged of the hotel. They began to head upstairs. Clouseau led his team to find Zhanghe while Mao led Sinzyu team to the control room where they could disable the security system.

Mao led them up an emergency staircase to the 3rd floor. She gently opened a door a crack and used a small mirror to look round the corner so as to not expose her head; one guard standing right outside the door. Mao pulled out a piece of piano wire, she slipped it around the guard's neck, pulled him into the stairwell, and proceeded to throttle him.

"Clear," she whispered. Sagara covered one end of the hallway and Mao the other. They moved quietly to the end of the hall to a door marked 'Employees Only'.

Mao listened at the door, "I hear at least 6 individuals; sounds like there are more inside. Well bang and clear."

Sagara pulled out a flashbang grenade and pulled the pin. Togo kicked the door open and Sagara tossed the flashbang. They shielded their ears and closed their eyes as the stun grenade temporally deafened and blinded the soldiers inside. They stormed the room using silenced weapons. The 9 soldiers inside were still recovering from the flashbang and did not have a chance from the rapid attack.

"Room is clear, Sinzyu team get to work," said Mao.

Takano and Soifon began to disable the alarm systems. Togo observed the positions of enemy patrols in the corridors and relayed the information to Uruz team.

"Control Room, report," ordered a voice in Korean over a walkie-talkie.

"You speak Korean? Mine's not very convincing," said Mao.

Togo reached for the walkie-talkie and spoke in fluent Korean, "This is Control Room, nothing so far."

"Okay, but keep watch."

"Understood."

"Not bad," said Takano in a disinterested tone. "Uruz 1, this is Sinzyu 1-2, you have company heading your way. Three guard coming from the main elevator shaft, ETA 20 seconds."

"Rodger that, Uruz 1 out."

"Takano?" said Soifon.

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Have you spotted the Chinese yet?"

"No, ma'am."

"Something isn't right."

"This is Uruz 1, we're storming the conference room."

Takano, Togo, Soifon, and Mao watched as they stormed the conference room and entered a brief shootout with the PKA and PLA officers and guards; Sagara kept the door a crack so he could watch the hall for approaching guards.

"This is Uruz 9, Mao can you translate what this Chinese officer is saying?"

"Rodger, just give him a radio."

"Who are you?" demanded Mao.

Silence.

"Who are you?!"

"Major Zhao Ping of the glorious People's Liberation Army," said the major in a defiant tone.

"What is your purpose here?"

"This discuss business on behalf of my superior."

"Shit. Uzuz 1 he says he is here on behalf of Zhanghe."

"Fucking intel… when I get my hands on them… forget it. All Uruz call signs begin the withdrawal now, Uruz 1 out."

"Master Chief Mao, we have company," said Sagara calmly.

"How many?"

"Just 2 guards," he said staring through the crack.

"Deal with it."

"It's not a problem," he said in his monotone. He kicked the door open, shot one female guard in the head, and a male guard twice in the chest. Sagara led the way out to the emergency staircase. Mao covered the hallway while checked to see if the staircase was clear.

"This is Uruz 3, our position is compromised!" they could heard gunfire in the background.

"This is Uruz 6, stand by over… got him."

"Nice shot, continue cover us."

They were now in the kitchen, heading for the exit when a PKA soldier with a TT-54 came in the room and proceed to shoot. Togo fired a 3 round burst into the chest of the soldier killing him. He and Sagara covered the others backs while they cleared the alley. PKA soldiers were now coming out of the woodwork and engaging them.

Mao reached a sewer entrance and led her team down below the street.

"I hear footsteps," said Takano. They trained their weapons to a corner behind them.

"This is Uruz 6, I have Uruz 5 with me, hold fire we're coming, over."

Weber and Pamuk held his rifle around in way to show he wasn't going to shoot.

"Where is Uruz 3's team?" asked Weber.

"I don't know," said Mao. A noise above caused everyone to raise their weapons, but it was only Ensign Clouseau followed by Uruz 12.

"Let's go," said Clouseau in his usual business like tone.

"Where's the rest of…" started Pamuk.

"Dead… fucking intel I'll teach them a lesson…" he sighed, "We can't go to the LZ, we're attracted too much attention and we can't risk Gabe or Teiwaz squadrons."

"Rodger, I'll tell the Danaan," said Mao. "This is Uruz 2, come in Perth 1."

"… this is Perth 1," said the voice of Commander Kalinin.

"Target was not at the sight, we have taken major loses, we are aborting mission. We can extracted the way we planned. We need a new plan, over."

"Rodger well…" static.

"Shit, we're being jammed," said Mao.

"Looks like we're on our own," said Soifon.

"It's not a problem," said Sagara in his monotone. Everyone stared at him.

"What do you mean it's not a problem?" asked Togo dumbfounded.

"He says it all the time, it's pretty much his catch phrase," said Weber.

"Still, I'd like to know what you mean by that Sousuke," inquired Pamuk.

"Well… in when I was in Bosnia, I was surround by Croatian soldiers and I was alone," he said remember his time in the KGB.

"And it turned out okay?" asked Mao.

"Uh… sorta… I was the only survivor and I… uh sorta deserted and went to Sarajevo to escape the KGB."

"Thanks Sousuke, you really know who to cheer us up," said Weber.

"You are welcome."

"What did you do?" asked Takano.

"I used what I could to fight my way out of the city. I went through areas where there was a lot of fighting because it was almost impossible to distinguish me from the Serbians, Bosnians, or Croatians soldiers and civilians. Eventually I can into a US Delta Team safe house. They tried to kill me because I still had my KGB insignia on me, but once they knew I was a deserter they help me escape the fighting."

"Well… we can't stay here, we need to see if we can find some AT weapons and secure an escape route," said Mao.

"Right, let's head into the downtown and see what we can find," said Ensign Clouseau who took the lead. They quietly moved along the sewer system. The ceiling rumbled and shook dust lose.

"Must be an air raid," said Weber because they could hear the sirens.

**BOOM!!**

"FUCK!" shouted Uruz 12 as part of the sewer collapsed in front of them. The sewer's ceiling was now blocking the sewer off and they had no choice, but to climb out. They scaled into a bombed out building that wasn't easily recognizable because of the damage.

"Looks like the PKA was using this place as a weapons cache," said Sagara. "Hey, these still look usable."

Sagara had opened up a metal box that was in a corner of the room which contained RPG-7s. He found additional crates with AK-47s, old Chinese Type 56s, RPKs, SVDs, and RPK-74s (3). He started to pass out RPG-7s and AT rockets to everybody. He also handed out a few AK-47s to the others.

"Okay, let's keep moving," said Clouseau.

"Sir," they said.

They moved out down side streets, keeping to the shadows. They reached the end of the block and now they were faced by the fact that they would have to run across a well lit street.

"I see a guard post… it may be a little outside the RPG's effective range, but we don't have much of a choice," said Weber peeking around the corner.

"Uruz 6, snipe that MG gunner, Uruz 5 and 7 take out that guard post," order Mao.

"Rodger," they said together. The Barret M82A1A, took aim, and fired a shot off with a huge echoing bang that caused the machine gunner to look around. Unfortunately he looked straight into the path of the bullet. Sagara fired an AT rocket the shrieked through the air and smashed into the guard post. Clouseau ran into the middle of the street and fired bursts of automatic fire from his M14 while the other dashed across. Togo paused and fired a rocket before crossing.

They were across and were now running down the street towards warehouse. Mao pulled out a set of bolt cutters and cut open a hole in the chain-link fence other everyone to go through. Pamuk ran to the back door of the warehouse and started to pick the lock.

He started to open the door when Sagara slapped his hand away. "What's wrong?"

"Take a look," said Sagara. There was a small thin wire attached to the doorknob on the other side of the door.

"Shit, good call Sousuke," said Weber. Sagara cut the wire and gently opened the door.

"It's clear, keep an eye out for more traps," said Sagara.

They moved into the middle of the warehouse, it was an open area with crates stacked around, catwalks above, a main entrance on one side, and an office on the opposite side.

"Careful," said Sagara, revealing more traps, "These are claymores… US landmines… and these kinds of traps seem familiar… mmnn…"

Suddenly the lights came on and Uruz team and Sinzyu team saw they were surrounded by at least 24 heavily armed soldiers.

"Hands in the air PKA motherfuckers!" shouted a woman with a SIG Sauer 3000 sniper rifle.

"Stand down," ordered a man who jumped down from a firing position behind a crate. "They're ours."

"Who the hell are you guys?" asked Mao.

"15th Delta Assault Platoon, known as the Roanoke Platoon, and I'm…" started the man.

"Lt. Shinhachi, sir?" interrupted Sagara.

"Uh… no… hey, Jason its Sousky, remember from our first mission," called a man with jet black hair.

"Oh yeah, how ya' been?" asked a man with light brown hair.

"Sousuke, you know these guys?" asked Mao.

"Yeah, they're my… uh friends from the former Yugoslavia."

"Yeah I remember that, you were like 17 then and we were 18," said Maiwald, "Once we were looking for food and you blew up a loaf of bread because you thought it was booby-trapped."

"Yup, that's our Sousuke," said Mao sweat-dropping.

"Yeah and then we tried to kill him because he had a KGB insignia on him," said Captain Maiwald. "Then we found he was a deserter and we took him with us. There was an older man with him… a Spetsnaz."

"Commander Kalinin, he's my superior," said Sagara. "So… what have you guys have been up to?"

"Oh you know, I was promoted several times and now I'm in charge of an assault platoon. I'm a Lt. Colonel and I'm now attending Seattle University, and Jason here is still my lackey/2nd in command. He's also a Captain," said Shinhachi.

"Great… uh we were kinda cut off from our unit and we need to extract," said Mao, "can you help us get out?"

"Sorry Master Chief, but we're extracting overland and we're laying low because there are air strikes hitting the areas of our escape route, so we're gonna' have to wait until tomorrow night," said Shinhachi.

"Rodger, it's not a problem," said Sagara.

"You still say that, eh?" asked Maiwald and then to Mao and Weber.

"Well, you guys might as well sleep," said Lt. Pierce, "we have a long night coming up."

* * *

Well, this is one of my longest chapters, but with over 76,000 words I now have the longest School Rumble fanfiction on this site. 

Appendix

1. I changed Uruz Teams ranks to a rough equivalent of their navy ranks. Ari Pamuk is a fictional character that does not appear in Full Metal Panic; I added him because in the show Mao, Weber, and Sagara operate in a 3 man team, but Delta Operators and Navy SEALs operate in 4 man teams. I will be changing some of the character bios for the purposes of my story.

2. There are 3 common types of submarines. The first is the scout/recon submarine which has long range capabilities and is equipped for anti-ship or anti-sub; they are designated as SSK. The second type is an attack submarine which is the primary submarine used by navies around the world, it is armed for anti-sub or anti-ship combat; nuclear power subs are designated SSN, general types without missiles SS, and general types with missiles SSA. The third is the boomer submarine or primary strike sub which is armed with nuclear missiles or a ballistic missiles; a non-nuclear powered one is designated SSB and nuclear powered is SSBN.

3. There is a difference between the RPK and RPK-74. The PRK-74 is basically an AK-74 with a longer barrel and a bipod. Like the AK-74 it fires the Soviet 5.45x39mm cartridge and uses a 30 or 45 banana clip like an assault rifle. It was designed for the Soviet airborne infantry. The RPK is very similar, but it fires the larger Soviet 7.62x39mm cartridge, it uses banana clips like the RPK-74, but unlike the RPK-74, the RPK is designed to receive 80, 100, or 120 round drum clips. It was designed to replace the RPD as the Soviet's squad machine gun; an equivalent to the US's M60 light machine gun.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya


	23. Chapter 23: In the Wake of the Fallen

Sally Smith, founder and head of the Lab School of Washington died on Saturday December 1st, 2007. I am a student at Lab School, a college bound school for students with learning differences like ADHD, and if she hadn't founded the school I would have never learned to read, let alone write this very story. I wouldn't be applying to college nor doing so many other things if she hadn't founded the school. I would like to say, "Thank you Ms. Smith, we would be lost without you."

I don't own School Rumble, Bleach, or Full Metal Panic, please review.

* * *

**Chapter 23: In the Wake of the Fallen Empire**

"If your plan is going perfectly, you have walked into an ambush."

A Law from Murphy's Laws of Combat

**1200 Hours, July 25****th****, 2010; a warehouse, PKA Sector of Shinomoseki**

"So where did you guys meet?" Clouseau asked Shinhachi, Maiwald, and Sagara.

"Well first things first. You're stationed on the Tuatha de Danaan, right?" asked Maiwald.

"Yes sir."

"Then you all have a pretty high security clearance?"

They all nodded.

"Jack, you tell it. You do it better than me," said Maiwald.

"Fine," Shinhachi groaned. He took a deep breath and said, "When Jason and I were 18, we decided, for personal reasons, not to use family money and to sign onto the Army to pay for college. Mainly we just wanted to get out of the house and not have to detail with our families all the time. We trained and we were going to be sent into the 101st Airborne Division, but we got transferred to Fort Bragg and later Albania for training.

According to the official records we were first in combat operations in Afghanistan and only in combat there, but we were first sent into a rescue mission in Sarajevo. It was a cold and snowy morning…"

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**0500 Hours, November 7****th****, 2008; 12,000ft over Bosnia, 40 miles from Sarajevo, Bosnia**

A 24 man team of Delta operators dressed in plain clothes and carrying Soviet and Yugoslavian built weapons and were sitting on the benches of a Night Stalker C-130. The C-130 was fighting its way through strong winds. Below the earth was battle scared and snow covered from earlier snow fall.

"I must say, in all my years I have never seen an election like this one," said a report; the plane's crew were playing the news over the planes PA system. "People, sick of the Republicans overly conservative and pro-war policies, and sick of the Bush Administration naturally did not make the Republicans an attractive choice. The Democrats inability to stay consistent also makes them a less than appealing decision. Still in over a hundred years that United States has never seen the American people vote in such numbers for an Independent Party member.

Presidential candidate Michelle Crane, a former Senator of Washington State, is on the verge of a landslide victory. Not only would she be the first woman president, but she would be the first member of Independent Party to be president. Americans who have long since lost faith in their government are coming out of the woodwork to sniff the winds of change with hope. As one man told me, 'Between what we've been dealing with, we all thought a woman's touch would be a nice change.' This is Sean Braddock on the American Presidential Election, BCC World News."

"Do you think she'll be a good president?" asked Captain Biles, a husky 32 year old Caucasian man.

"I do, I voted for her," said a younger, scarless 2nd Lt. Shinhachi who was seated next to equally young, scarless Master Sergeant Maiwald. "She was our senator, and did a damn fine job. Besides, anything is better than another Bush."

"Amen to that," said Sergeant Major Sanders, a 27 year old black man. Others made similar comments in agreement.

"That's right ladies and gents, hail to the new Chief," said Major Enfant, a 40 year old black man and leader of the 15th Assault Platoon or Roanoke Platoon. He had named the unit after the lost British colony that was established in Virginia along with Jamestown and disappeared during the 1600s; they were combat soldiers that impossible to on the battlefield find like the lost colony.

"This ya'lls first mission?" asked, in a southern accent, Staff Sergeant Blackburn, a 21 year old Caucasian man.

"Yup," said Shinhachi, Maiwald nodded.

"Stick with us and you'll be fine," said 1st Lt. Erbe, a 22 year old Caucasian woman.

"Listen up folks," said Major Enfant, "we're gonna' drop high, and HALO (1) down. Keep a low profile; although we are dressed like the locals, some of us are going to stand out in this area of the world."

"Especial you Mike," said Enfant jokingly indicating the only person on the plane of Slavic descent who grinned and nodded; everyone laughed appreciatively. Enfant continued his briefing, "Our mission is to locate and secure our informant, codenamed Samuel. Once you find him, attach a strobe to him so the Night Stalkers can distinguish him from everyone else. Remember, this is a covert mission; you're not to discuss this mission with anybody until said otherwise. Also make sure that our translator Shinhachi doesn't get his head blown off."

"Thank you sir," said Shinhachi with mock salute to which Enfant and Roanoke platoon laughed.

"Roanoke leader, ETA to DZ is 3 minutes," said one of the plane's crew who prepared to open the ramp.

"Get ready!" shouted Major Enfant.

They stood up and hung onto a cable that was suspended next to their heads. The back ramp of the C-130 opened and revealed Sarajevo, capitol of Bosnia. The city even from 12,000ft was clearly war torn city, a few fires were burning and signs of early morning fighting in the melee gave the appearance of a frozen hell.

"Welcome to eastern Europe!" shouted the flight crewman. "Good luck down there!"

A red light went on, which signaled that they were to get ready to jump soon.

The crewman put a hand to his ear so he could hear an incoming radio message. "They've spotted incoming MiG-21s and J-22s, a lot of movement on the ground; looks like the Serbians are launching a counter-attack."

"Rodger that!" shouted Major Enfant. "I didn't plan on staying long."

The light turned green. "Green light! Green light! GO! GO!"

They jumped out of the plane, joining hands and forming a ring. They were descending at a rapid, but perfectly controlled rate. Although it was Shinhachi's first combat drop, he was not concerned; he was with his best friend and several long standing veterans who he trusted completely. Maiwald was not as calm, the drop wasn't his concern though; it was what he saw on the ground that made him worry. As a sniper he had excellent eye sight and he could see what looked like some skirmishes on the ground as scouts from the Croatian Army, the Serbian Army, and Bosnian militias locked in a free-for-all.

Suddenly a stream of green tracer rounds flew up at them. It ripped right through them. Blood and limbs filled the air. Their HALO was broken and they were all falling towards the ground in random directions.

Shinhachi spinning out of control when he realized how close he was to the ground, he recalled the discipline he was taught from an early age by his family, righted himself, and pulled the cord to open his chute. He felt a hard jerk as the chute opened. He landed in the yard outside of a mosque (2).

"Ahh, shit," he muttered to himself. One of the anti-air shells had cut his left arm, but it wasn't a deep cut. He pulled out an AKS-74 and unfolded the stock. He scanned the buildings around to check for movement.

'I can't stay here in the open,' he thought. Shinhachi turned and entered the mosque. He walked over to a set of taps over a floor basin. He removed his shoes and gloves and washed his hands, feet, and face (3).

"You're clearly not Serbian," said a voice in Bosnian. Shinhachi swung around with his Colt .45 drawn to face the voice. A man wearing white robes and reading glasses with a Koran open in his hands was looking at him. An Imam, an Islamic man of the cloth was watching him with some surprise.

"I'm not a Muslim, but I taught to always show respect and since its your place of worship then I should do as you do," said Shinhachi in Bosnian.

The Imam gave a small smile, "You show too much respect for us to be a Serb and your Bosnian sounds a bit like Albanian so you're not a Croatian or a Bosnian and you don't look like you're even from this region."

The couple of militia fighters with various Soviet and Yugoslavian weapons walked in the room and eyed Shinhachi curiously as they proceed to clean themselves before entering the main mosque.

"Who's he?"

"I think he's American," whispered one fighter to another. "I saw him and others fall from the skies, I've never seen the Serbs or Croats do that."

"You know where they are?" asked Shinhachi the soldier.

"Not exactly, but I have some idea where to look… I suppose that we could help, but we want something in return."

"What?"

"Information. Something is going on and we need to know if we should get our families to safety."

Shinhachi nodded, "The Serbian Air Force and Army is going to launch an air and artillery attack. Serbian tanks and infantry assembling. It looks like it their launching a counter-attack and it also looks like a big one. I say you have until noon before they strike."

"And the Croatians?" asked the Imam.

"They seem to know that a counter-attack is coming and they're preparing. It's going to get ugly real fast."

"Victor, you take your men and warn everyone, I will take my men and help this boy find his comrades," said a man who appeared to be the leader. "Come American."

"For the record, I can neither deny nor conform that I am an American," said Shinhachi.

"So be it. What's your purpose?"

"I can't tell you much, but I'm looking for a man that works for us and he's in danger right now," said Shinhachi. He was following 5 armed men through bombed out buildings.

"There," said Shinhachi pointing to a building in front of them.

"What?" asked a soldier.

"Stay here, there's one of my friends in that building," said Shinhachi moving towards a bombed out apartment building. Shinhachi moved carefully across the street towards the building checking left and right for hostile soldiers.

"This is Roanoke 5-1, come in any and all Roanoke callsigns," whispered Shinhachi into a small speaker attached to the collar of his flannel shirt.

"This 5-2, good to hear you buddy," said Maiwald. "Who're friends?"

"Muslim militia, they saw where you guys landed and in exchange for information on the Serbian and Croatian movements they helped me."

"Will they help us find Samuel?"

"Doubt it; they have enough problem of their own. Come on."

Maiwald come down the stairs, dressed in brown coat with his hood up. He had a Yugoslavian M-93 Black Arrow .50 cal bolt-action sniper rifle and an AKS-74U carbine (4).

"Where's the rest?" asked Shinhachi.

"We're it," said Maiwald gravely shaking his head.

"Then we're on our own," said Shinhachi numbly. "Okay… we have our orders… let's get moving before it gets real bad."

Shinhachi thanked the Muslims before leaving with Maiwald heading deep into Sarajevo. They ran past piles of rubble, destroyed vehicles, and corpses. They passed people running to get out of the area before the fighting started.

"It's really sad," said Shinhachi.

"What is?"

"This place was so beautiful. Yeah… after Titŏ. Yugoslavia fell apart and the Balkans was submerged in blood and chaos. Yugoslavia was not perfect… and was a dictatorship, but they had a unified nation… this all came because Milosevic couldn't keep the nation together. Of course, we didn't help overthrowing him thought," said Shinhachi sadly.

"So…" started Maiwald," this… war is the wake of the falling of an empire?"

"Yes… but it's not really a war… its just murder and genocide… did you know what the Serbs do to the Muslim women?"

"No."

"They rape them. Because the Muslims condemn abortion they have to give birth to those kids; the kids aren't considered Muslims because it's the father's kid. Idea on the Serbs part is that those kids are Serbians and not Muslims… its part of the whole ethnic cleansing thing. They then kill the men and women," said Shinhachi.

"That's fucked up," said Maiwald disgusted.

"Yeah… I know… maybe they were better off with a Yugoslavia."

"Hey, what's up this that, it looks untouched?" asked Maiwald looking at a marble statue with clean mural behind it. It was of a man in a fatherly and courageous pose, his face was friendly, wise, and had no trace of doubt and the promise of better things to come. It was in sharp contrast with everything else around in its depictions of hope and prosperity and its clearness.

"That's Josip Broz Titŏ, he was placed by the Soviets after World War II to be in charge of the old Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The Germans ended the Kingdom of Yugoslavia when they invaded and the Soviets created the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia with him in charge. He was a Croat, but he took over what was basically a Serbian run state and ruled it with an iron fist. NATO didn't really like him, but since the Serbs caused World War I they decided to live with it. He represents what was once a great nation… an empire that could stand up to both the United States and Soviet Union if they wanted to," said Shinhachi.

"What happened to this place?" asked Maiwald.

"Titŏ held them together and when he died… they couldn't hold and it all fell apart and NATO, the UN, and the Warsaw Pack didn't want any part of it."

They walked in silence for a while.

"Is that the safe house?" asked Maiwald.

"Yeah… who's that?"

"I don't know… it's a boy," said Maiwald looking through his scope.

"Congratulations, I'll get the cigars," said Shinhachi sarcastically to highlight that Maiwald statement was not very informative. Looking through binoculars he said, "Oh shit… he has a KGB insignia… he's going into the safe house… take him."

"Target acquired…" **BANG!** "Shit he's fast. I think I clipped him on the cheek." The boy dodged the shot and ran into the safehouse. Shinhachi ran after him. He ran into a small apartment building that had a main area with stairs that went to the upper floors. Shinhachi dived and rolled as the boy fired an AK-108 at him and retreated deeper into the building. Shinhachi ran upstairs and pursued him.

**BANG!** Shots from the boy's AK-108 caught Shinhachi off guard as he rounded a corner and two shots cut him on the check leaving two parallel cuts.

Shinhachi pulled out his Colt .45 and shot at the retreating boy, hitting him in the same cheek Maiwald had hit him on. Disregarding his bleeding check he dropped his Kalashnikov while simultaneously drawing a long combat knife. Shinhachi, who had practiced martial arts since he was 4, saw he had no time to aim and fire his gun as decided to dodge. The boy charged him and slashed him across the neck, but didn't cut too deeply. In that moment Shinhachi could see the boy was probably of Eastern Russia descent and he also looked like he was Chinese or Japanese descent too.

The boy turned almost instantly, rolled, picked up his rifle in the same move, and raised his AK-108, but froze when he felt the cold metal of a double-barrel shotgun against his head.

"Samuel, are you okay?" asked Shinhachi as he gazed at Nikolai Chekhov, aka Samuel; of the United States G2 Military Intelligence and informer of terrorists and foreign covert soldiers in Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro, and Serbia. He was a medium height, a short thick beard, had piecing grey eyes, thick dark brown hair, and was dressed in civilian clothing. He had a Winchester 12 gauge double-barrel shotgun.

"I'm good," he said; he spoke with a slight British accent. "I see you brought a friend."

"Yeah, sorry about him."

"No, I me the Spetsnaz officer behind you."

Shinhachi looked over his soldier and saw a man in his 50s with an AK-108 aimed at him. He was wearing a tattered Soviet Spetsnaz uniform with a major's insignia.

"Since when do the KGB openly wear their uniforms in a combat zone?" asked Chekhov. He was greeted with silence. "Wait… I've seen you two, you deserted the Soviet ranks a month ago, right?"

The older man nodded.

"Then our fight isn't with you."

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**0745 Hours; November 7****th****, 2008; a G2 safehouse; Sarajevo, Bosnia; former republic of Yugoslavia, currently independent nation**

"Sorry about that," said Shinhachi holding a bandage to his neck.

"It's not a problem," said the boy placing on his check.

"What's your name?" asked Maiwald who was standing by the window, scanning for any 'unwelcome guests.'

"Sousky Seagal, Sergeant Seagal if you must know."

"I'm Andrei Kalinlin, Major," said the older man.

"Coffee's ready," said Chekhov who paced a coffee pot around. "Lieutenant, where is the rest of your platoon?"

"KIA (killed in action) and MIA (missing in action), probably all KIA," said Shinhachi dryly. "AA barrage."

"We can't stay here, we have until noon before the fighting starts," said Maiwald with some urgency.

"That's fine and all, but we can't use the predetermined EZ. Too many triple A threats in the area, we'll have to escape to the next EZ," said Chekhov calmly.

"But the next EZ is Kalinovik, that's like 35 miles south of here," said Maiwald still looking out the window.

"Yeah, but it will be safe since it's so far out. We just need transport," said Chekhov.

"Right, let's get going," said Shinhachi standing up with Chekhov.

"Hold it," said Kalinlin standing up with his sidekick Seagal.

"What?" asked Shinhachi impatiently, thinking about the hundreds, possibly thousands, of Croatian and Serbian soldiers that are preparing to battle each other head on in less than 5 hours.

"I, Andrei Kalinlin and my associate Sousky Seagal, respectfully request asylum from the government of the United States of America. Seagal as a former high level KGB agent will need an alias for his own protection. We will both be willing to provide the United States with what intelligence we can and make ourselves useful to your nation," he said in an official tone.

"Fine, start with helping get out of this city alive," said Chekhov hand them their AK-108s.

"It's not a problem," said Seagal.

"Technicals (5)… two of them, both have .50 cals on them… 30+ infantry dismounting," said Maiwald who watched the window carefully.

"Are they Muslims? If they are I think I can talk our way out," said Shinhachi hopefully.

"Not likely," said Chekhov. "This part of Sarajevo is a mix of Hungarians and Croatians… looks like a Croat militia and they won't ask too many questions before shooting us. No problem though, I have a back way."

They ran out the door. Chekhov set a trap so that if anyone entered the safe house they would blow half the building off. They reached the emergency staircase. Chekhov went over to the plywood wall and pulled it open to reveal a small ladder that went to the basement.

"You wait sir, I'll go first cause if you die our mission will be a failure," said Shinhachi. He slid down the ladder and arrived in the boiler room.

"Clear."

The others followed. Above they could hear the Croats entering the building and searching the ground floor, kicking in doors, and yelling out to each other. Chekhov pushed a cardboard box out of the way to reveal a tunnel. The tunnel was a dug out passage way supported by wooden beams. It was roughly large enough for a man to grouch his way through one by one.

They moved as quickly and quietly as they could and reached a wide section of the tunnel that was wide enough for an entire squad to sit comfortably. Chekhov kicked a piece of sheet metal out of the way to reveal an underground entrance to the sewer. They sped along the dried up sewer bed and then climbed up another ladder.

"What is this place?" asked Maiwald.

"Looks like a priest's study," said Shinhachi when he saw many religious items including a bible. Seagal walked towards the door and when he touched the doorknob the whole door fell open. He stared opened mouthed into what the others thought was the outside, but was in actuality a bombed out church.

The floor was covered in roof tiles and snow, the walls stood with their widows gone, half of a bell tower stood at one end with a cracked cast-iron bell at the bottom, and at the other end was the only stained window remaining. Broken benches lay in their place under a thin layer of snow.

"A Serbian Orthodox Church," said Shinhachi sadly. "Like the Muslims, women, and so many other things in Bosnia, it's considered free game to the Croats who are generally Catholics. Ya' know, wipe out the other guy's religion along with him."

"… the Kingdom of Heaven?" read Maiwald who was staring at what remained of an inscription.

"Probably means the old Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Because the Serbians have their own church and founded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia which fell during World War II. They considered it a Kingdom of Heaven," said Chekhov.

"Why did this happen to these people?" asked Maiwald shaking his head.

"Because Titŏ died, and no one else could keep the Yugoslav republics together once he was gone," said Shinhachi. "This whole country was beautiful, they held the fucking Olympic Games here once, and now…"

He sighed and kicked a piece of roof tile across the floor and into a small pile of snow. Snow was starting to gently descend form the dark clouds that had been their since they first landed. It was so quietly he could hear the crackling of the snow and the echoing bark of a dog in the distance. It was so peaceful, so calm, so… wrong… very, very wrong.

Shinhachi could feel his heart racing as he looking around. It was way too quiet. From the moment he landed he heard nothing, but gunfire, people evacuating, distant artillery, and the sounds of chaos and war. Now… it wall so quiet he could hear the snow falling. It was the calm before the storm.

"Shit," muttered to himself as he looked up at the sky. "If a blizzard is coming then… they probably won't fly planes in a bad storm and they will… oh fuck."

"They're coming… aren't they?" asked Seagal in his monotone.

"War isn't as fun if the weather is bad," said Maiwald sarcastically. "Seriously though, we can't stay here."

"Excuse me," interjected Kalinlin.

"We're a little busy," said Shinhachi dismissing him with a wave while Maiwald and him talked about what to do.

"Okay, but I thought I should tell you that I found transport," he said turning to leave.

"Oh okay, thanks. Now Jason I think… wait… what did he say?!"

Kalinlin had found a beat up, but working four-door car. Chekhov, who knew the city better than any of them, took the wheel. Seagal and Shinhachi sat in the back with hat pulled low over their faces because it would be suspicious to see non-Slavic let along non-European people in this part of Europe. Maiwald sat with them and Kalinlin sat up front.

They drove quickly through the deserted streets, panic growing in their heart as they got towards southern end of the city. A group of Serbian J-22 Oraos flew low in front of them and caused snow on the roofs of houses to fall onto the street in their wake. They felt the ground shake and saw explosions go off miles away.

As they reached the outskirts they saw a group of Serbian tanks and infantry advancing up the road.

"Stay calm. Shinhachi, Seagal, keep your faces down. The rest of ya', just don't look suspicious and they'll ignore us," said Chekhov. A group of Serbian soldiers were marching proudly forward with Yugoslavian built M70B1 assault rifles with standard banana clips or large drum clips. They also had RGP-7s and M84 light machine guns (6).

"Are those T-72s?" asked Maiwald.

"No their M-84s, they're based off the T-72, but it was made by the Yugoslavians. Now the Serbians, Montenegrins, Bosnians, and Croatians build and use them," said Chekhov.

The soldiers marched with a column of M-84 tanks and BOV-3 AA vehicles.

Chekhov shifted to the side and slowly drove through them. The Serbians glanced at them, but show little in the way of interest. The soldiers merely thought that they were walking past Serbs that lived in Bosnia (7) and were running to safer areas.

"We made it," said Chekhov once they were a safe distance from Sarajevo.

"Jesus Christ," said Maiwald as he looked out the back window. The snow covered city of Sarajevo was exploding as Croatian and Serbians planes and artillery pounded the already battered city.

"Now Jason, what would Mr. Sherman say if he heard you use the lord's name in vain?" asked Shinhachi mockingly.

"Who cares? Neither of us is religious and we graduated so we never have to see him again," said Maiwald.

"Oh yeah… ain't it great."

"So… what's next?" asked Seagal…

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**2000 Hours, July 25****th****, 2010; a warehouse, PKA Sector of Shinomoseki**

"So Sousky Seagal was taken back to our covert base in Albania and then taken to Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany where he was told his old identity never existed and he was Sousuke Sagara; a kid who's place of birth is unknown, of Japanese descent, sole survivor of a plane crash, grew up in an autonomous providence in central Asia with a militia, a current resident of Japan, and serves in the US Navy SEALs," finished Shinhachi.

"What happened to the Muslim militia?" asked Pamuk.

"The Imam is still alive, the rest I don't know about. Probably dead or in hiding."

"The Croatian and Serbian soldiers?" asked Mao.

"They beat each into a stalemate after three months of fighting. They killed a lot of innocent people in the process…"

"Lt. Colonel, have you heard the news about Serbia?" asked Sagara.

"Yeah I did. I heard this morning that Macedonia surrendered. Montenegro or as the Serbs call it 'Old Serbia' is joining them. The Croatians and Slovenians don't want to go without a fight, but it seems that Mikosvič is determined to recreate Titŏ's Yugoslavian 'empire'. This is what those people have been dreaming of, a strong leader that can unify them again; and they are responding to him. It's only a matter of time before Mikosvič crushes them and builds the forth Yugoslavia."

"Sir," said Lt. Pierce, she tipped her watch to show it was time to go.

"Right then, we'll continue this conversation in a friendlier place."

* * *

Damn that was a long chapter. I've been reading _The Serbs_ by Tim Judah which talks about the history of Serbia, the rise and fall of Yugoslavia, and the histories of the former republics of Yugoslavia. I wrote this because mostly because I want to tell you guys that these things happen even in Europe, and this all happen only a few years ago; probably sill is going on. If ya'll care about what's going on in Darfur or Chechnya, than look into places like Bosnia and other former republics of Yugoslavia. Things that are just as bad as the Holocaust happen and it's just not right to ignore it like Tiananmen Square.

I also would like to say again that without the Lab School I would have never had made it as far as I am in life.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. HALO is a type of airborne drop used by special forces. It involves a group of spec ops solders dropping from a high altitude and joining hands to form a ring or halo for a controlled free-fall descent. Once they reach a low altitude they break the ring and they open their chutes. It's an effective way to deploy spec ops soldiers from a plane with minimal detection. It's very popular in Delta Force, the SEALs, the SAS, and many others.

2. A mosque is the holy place of warship for the Islamic religion. Bosnia is the home of the largest numbers of Muslims in the Balkans. They were the victims of some of the most horrific war crimes committed during the Bosnia War.

3. It is costmary before entering a mosque to wash your hands, feet, and face. I'm not sure why, but I know it has something to do with entering a place of warship clean.

4. The AKS-74U is another variation of the AK-74. AKS is the designation for a Russian assault rifle with a folding stock like the AKS-47 or AKS-74. The U at the end of the rifles name is the Russian designation for a carbine. The AKS-74U fires the same cartridge as the AK-74, but is much smaller. It is so much smaller that it is sometimes considered a sub-machine gun.

5. A technical is a civilian vehicle that has military equipment mounted on it. A common example of a technical would be pickup truck with a machine gun mounted behind the cab. Because most militaries can afford to buy vehicles made for combat, technicals are normally only used by militias.

6. The guns mentioned in that sentence are Yugoslavian versions of Russian guns; much like China bases their weapons off of Russia weapons. Most of the old Yugoslav weapons are used by the Serbians and have their own models in production since the fall of Yugoslavia. Croatia which is a little closer to the west has access to some NATO equipment; Croatia mostly makes their own land vehicles and tends to only buy aircraft.

7. In addition to the Hungarians, Muslims, and Croatians that live in Bosnia, there is a large Serbian population. Serbs actually are the largest ethnic group in the former Yugoslavia, Croatians are the second, and the Bosnian Muslims are the third. A lot of Serbs lived in northern and northwestern Bosnia and in eastern Croatia, though most of the Serbs in Croatia were killed or displaced.


	24. Chapter 24: Keep Pushing

Sorry about the delay, I've been kinda down since the head and founder of my school died, but it isn't fair to you guys after all I started this story with the promice to keep writing it, so here is the next installment.

I have all my college applications out. I really enjoy writing this story and I hope that ya'll are enjoying it too. I really appreciate the reviews from my readers like Seinaru, Perrou, and Smokey.Blade.

I just got Call of Duty 4 and I have to say it's the best of the Call of Duty series and one of the best shooters I've played. I do take issue with some inaccuracies in the game like cocking the bolt before loading the gun which means that there is no round in the chamber, they use guns that are commonly known, but aren't are either not used much in the military like the Uzi (too short a range to be effective in war) or outdated like RPD (replaced in the 70's by the RPK and RPK-74) or STG 44 (the first assault rifle, introduced in 1944). Still it's an awesome game though and I recommend it to people who enjoy games the previous Call of Duty games or the SOCOM: US Navy SEAL games.

I don't own School Rumble, Bleach, or Full Metal Panic… damn this list is starting to grow. Please review.

* * *

**Chapter 24: Keep Pushing**

"It is unwise to approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear, and a fool from any direction."

Craig Omerod, high school teacher and administrator

**0600 Hours, July 26****th**** 2010; outskirts of the intercity area of Shinomoseki, Japan**

Dawn. A lone figure with short white spiky hair walked around the entrance of commuter railway station. Captain Hitsugaya walked around, enjoying the peace of the early morning hours, despite the distant sounds of communist and NATO artillery.

Suddenly a voice rang out, "Captain, what are you doing up this morning? You'll never get tall if you don't sleep properly."

A vein pulsed in Hitsugaya's forehead; only one person would talk with such disrespect to him like that. "Matsumoto, do you live to annoy me?"

"No… buuuuut it is a big part of my life," she said cheerily with a big grin.

"Matsumoto, I have things to think about. Go away," he said and added in an undertone.

She ruffled his hair, much to his shock and annoyance. "Awww, Captain you shouldn't be so anti-social. What would Hinamori-chan say about her 'Shiro-chan'?"

"I AM CAPTAIN HITSUGAYA!" he shouted, "One, leave Hinamori out of this, two, don't call me Shiro-chan, and three, I have things to worry about."

"My, my, aren't we touchy about a certain someone," she said with a grin. Mastumoto's face shift to a more serious look and said concernedly, "you really miss her, don't you?"

Hitsugaya noticed her change in tone, gave her a grudging look, and turned away. He said over his shoulder, "Hai… I e-mail when I can… but I would like to see her face to face… it's been too long."

"Awww, Captain! That's so sweet!" she said pulling him into hug. "There, there, I'm practically an Onee-chan (big sister) for you. Let Onee-chan comfort you."

"Musmodo, wad da fu are ya doin'?! (Matsumoto, what the fuck are you doing?!)" he shouted, his voice muffled because she pressed him into her huge breasts and his face turning blue because he couldn't breath.

Once he broke himself free he turned and said, "We've wasted enough time now. We need to talk about today."

"Understood," Matsumoto said in a completely serious tone.

"Lt. Haiyato will moving on our right flank and make sure the PKA doesn't flank us while we move deeper into the city."

"And my platoon will spearhead the assault, right?" asked Matsumoto as they walked back to the station.

"Exactly, you'll clear the way for Lt. Hashigawa's platoon. Once you give him a clear path you'll secure the area with 3rd platoon while he storms the PKA HQ. The Americans will tie up the main enemy forces and then set up a forward HQ in the hotel once we've secured it," said Hitsugaya as they entered the station and walked pass their guard posts.

"Right then," she said. "What about support options?"

"The city will make it harder for close air support and artillery. For the most part will be on are own."

"Just another ordinary day, eh?" said Matsumoto with a smirk.

Hitsugaya chuckled a little at that, "Hai… take care."

"Of course. What would you or Momo-chan do without your Onee-chan?" she said as she walked off to gather 1st platoon.

'You aren't that bad of an Onee-chan, Matsumoto," thought Hitsugaya to himself. 'Now to business.'

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**0714 Hours, July 26thm 2010; outskirts of the intercity area of Shinomoseki, Japan**

"Staff Sergeant Asou?" said Harima.

"Hai, Harima?"

"I think were lost… again," said Harima.

"I think he's right. I'm pretty sure we past that police box three times already," said Ishida.

"That's not my fault," said Asou. They were riding in the back of an M939 Duce-and-a-Half. They were bought from the US military back in the 1990s as a logistic vehicle; unlike some of the US's M939 it did not have any defensive armaments like a M2 .50 cal. The olive drab tarp that would normally cover the back to protect troops or cargo from rain was removed and folded neatly behind the cab. The US built vehicle, painted olive drab with Japanese Ground Forces markings and driven by Japanese crew who had been going in circles for the past half hour. Other members of 2nd platoon, including 2nd Lt. Hashigawa, had noticed they were lost.

"Convoy halt!" shouted Lt. Hashigawa. The three trucks that were carrying 2nd platoon stopped. Two HUMMWVs with M2 .50 cals that were escorting the convoy halted with them.

"Lieutenant, what are you doing?" asked Master Sergeant Yokoshi, 4th squad leader and second in command of the platoon.

"Using common sense, that's what," he said as he jumped out of the truck and walked over to the police box that they had just passed for the fourth time. He opened the door and walked over to a map poster-board of Shinomoseki (1) that was hanging on a wall behind the desk where the neighborhood police officer would sit. He snagged it and strolled back outside to the M939s while consulting the map. 2nd platoon's squad leaders gathered around him as he placed the map on the ground in between two of the trucks.

"Okay… where still a good distance from our objective… in fact where out of position… and I think were behind enemy lines," said Lt. Hashigawa.

"How'd we slip through their lines?" asked Asou.

"We've advanced pretty far and fast in the past 24 hours. The PKA may have not have closed all their gaps yet and we may have just happened to drive right through a hole in their defensive lines," said 1st Sergeant Sakurai, 6th squad leader.

"So we could be surrounded and out numbered right now," said Yokoshi slowly with a hint of panic in his voice.

"Hai, but it doesn't seem they know that were here," said Lt. Hashigawa.

"Well then…," Asou started, but froze. He slowly stood up looking into the distance with a look of horror appearing on his face. He turned to his truck, pointed in the direction he was just looking in, and screamed," ISHIDA! SHOOT HIM!"

Ishida didn't wait for an explanation; he grabbed his M-21 and aimed his rifle in that direction. He saw what Asou saw, a single retreating PKA soldier; a scout.

Everything seemed in slow motion as the sound cracked of a signal gun shot, the ring of a spent cartridge hitting the floor of the truck's bed, and two words from Ishida practicallu echoed in the shocked silence, "Target down."

"He won't be warning anybody, but someone might come looking for him later. Let's get moving before more come," said Sakurai as she stood up to get a better look at the corpse of the PKA scout lying in the street about 900m away.

"I agree with 1st Sergeant Sakurai," said Asou nodding in agreement (2).

They drove away as fast as they could. The trucks moved in a line with the two HUMMWVs in the lane next to them.

"RGP!"

A rocket flew from the roof of a shopping mall as they raced by. The trucks swerved out of the way, the lead truck almost turning on its side in the process. The rocket missed and mashed into a building wall and exploded sending shrapnel ricocheting in every direction.

"DISMOUNT AND RETURN FIRE!" shouted Lt. Hashigawa as PKA soldiers opened fire from the mall.

"Shit! I think we stumbled onto one of their barracks!" shouted Ishida. He could see through his scope blankets, open packs, and signs of soldiers making camp.

The glass doors and windows of the mall's front entrance were shattered as 2nd platoon and PKA soldiers entered an increasingly large shootout. A second rocket screeched across the street and rammed into a wall; shrapnel ripped into some of the Japanese soldiers leaving them dead and mangled. A second soldier with an RPG inside the mall fired a rocket that hit the metal frame of the doorway and blowing them apart.

"I can't see," said Kitsumori; the RPG's contrail and explosion were making it impossible for any of them to see the PKA soldiers except for the muzzle flashes.

"Frag 'em out with the M203s!" shouted Lt. Hashigawa. Kurosaki, Abarai, and Jupei in compliance raised their Type 87 assault rifle with mounted grenade launchers and fired frag grenades. Other soldiers with M203s on their rifles did the same.

"5th squad, advance into the mall, everyone else, covering fire!" ordered Lt. Hashigawa.

"Squad," said Asou, "we'll pop flank around on our left to avoid getting shot up by our own side, pop smokes."

"Laying smokes," said Abarai and Ishida as they toss a smoke grenade each.

"Wait for it… wait for it… okay, GO!" shouted Asou once the smoke screened them from view.

They dashed through the smoke, unable to see more than a few feet 5th squad had little choice, but to run forward and hope they were going the right way. They lined up along the wall of the mall and started to edge their way towards the entrance. Asou was almost at the entrance when a shot smacked into the wall in front of him.

"Check your fire baka (idiot)! You almost hit Staff Sergeant Asou!" a 6th squad corporal yelled at one of his riflemen. Asou slide down the wall his eyes wide and body numb; he'd almost was shot by his own side.

'I can't go into the front… we'd be shot to pieces by both the enemy and our allies,' he thought, 'we need another way.'

"We can't go in this way… any ideas?" asked Asou lost to his squad, his mind was blank.

Shimazu was closely looking at a window display and noticed that it would be easy to blow a large hole in the wall here. "Sir, I think I could blow a hole in the wall here."

"But that would attract a lot of attention," pointed out Ikuro.

"What if we toss something into the entrance?" said Hanai.

"If we set off two explosions in two places at once, they wouldn't know what hit them," chimed in Harima.

"Hai, you and Haruki sure know how to draw attention with all the noise you make," said Kitsumori.

"Do it," said Asou while thinking, 'I'm glad these guys have ideas, I just didn't know what to do.'

Shimazu swung his M4A1 carbine like a baseball bat and smashed the glass. He then knocked on the wall to look for weak spots. 'It's dry wall, good this will blow apart easily.'

He placed a C4 (3) pack on the wall and pressed a button to arm the charge. He pulled out a remote detonator and signaled to the others to stand clear. Shino armed a second pack and set it so it would detonate at the simultaneously with the first. He threw it into the mall's entrance.

"Fire in the hole!" shouted Shimazu as he released the detonator's safety and pressed the red button on it. 5th squad grouched down and shielded their ears.

**BOOM! POW!**

They heard several cries of pain and others of confusion.

"Ikuro, frag and clear (4)!" ordered Asou.

Abarai tossed a frag grenade through the hole and stepped back from the area. Once it went off, Kurosaki moved in front of the hole with his Type 87 trained on it. "Clear!"

Ikuro with her M4A1 carbine raise moved through the hole and into woman's clothes store. Abarai moved in second, once he was through Kurosaki followed; Kitsumori with his LMG (light machine gun) covered the hole.

Abarai pecked around a circular metal racks. "Abarai, what are you doing?"

"Checking to see if it's clear Corporal," he answered in a whisper. "Why?"

He turned and his eyes widen when he saw the racks he was leaning against had bras and panties on it.

"When you're done staring, do you mind getting back to work?" asked a very annoyed Ikuro whispered.

"Gomennasai (sorry) ma'am," he said in a hoarse whisper scooting away from the stand.

"Renji, you're backing into lingerie display," said Kurosaki quietly.

"Aw, fuck," he groaned/whispered.

"Something wrong?" asked Hanai as he and the fire team entered the room.

"Iē, sir."

"Spread out," said Asou.

They spread out and took up firing positions. They PKA soldiers had no idea that they were being flanked.

"Open fire!" shouted Asou.

5th squad sprayed bullets into the PKA soldiers. With a signal from Asou, Ikuro lead her team out of the store and start to clear out PKA soldiers hiding behind a low brick wall that lined several trees that where planted in the mall.

Asou saw that the room was clear. He also saw that Ikuro, Abarai, and Kurosaki had their weapons pointed down at something. When Asou went to investigate he saw that they had their weapons trained on three wounded PKA soldiers who were lying on stretchers. A forth soldier lay dead; he appeared to have bled to death a while ago.

"Cease fire, stand down," said Asou hoarsely.

"Hai," they said looking down at the wounded soldiers who in turn stare up at them. The North Koreans weren't glaring; they were looking up at them as with detachment and indifference as though they didn't care what became of them and were resigned to their fates.

"We… we can't kill them," said Asou thinking of the innocent people they'd slaughtered in Korea; other veterans of Korea nodded in agreement. "I uh… declare them prisoners of war of the Japanese Federal Defense-Forces."

"Hai," 5th squad said as they picked up the stretchers.

"Friendlies coming out! Hold your fire!" shouted Hanai.

"Friendlies coming out, hold fire!" repeated Master Sergeant Yokoshi.

"Load them up and let's get going," said Asou.

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**0745 Hour, July 26****th****, 2010; off shore of Shinomoseki**

"Nice day," said Natsuyami vaguely.

"Hai… if you don't mind the view," said Yūki.

The Shirane was restocking munitions, fuel, and other supplies. Many other ships were being restocked via logistical ships. Natsuyami and Yūki were leaning against the railings on the sides of the Shirane. They were staring out at Shinomoseki; they could see smoke curling up from the city.

"Sure is a big deployment," said Natsuyami.

"One of the largest since the Pacific War," said a voice behind them.

Yūki and Natsuyami turn and then snapped to attention at the sight of their second in command.

"At ease, I'm just here to enjoy the breeze like you two," said Lt. Commander Jinya.

"Hai… you were saying something sir?" prompted Yūki ever the curious one.

"I was saying that this is one of a few major deployments of our fleets since the Pacific War. One of three to be exact," he mused. "And I was in all three."

"And they were?" asked Natsuyami.

"Let's see…," he thought while they sweat-dropped, "The first, which was also my first assignment, was back in 1983 when South Korean Air Liner 007 was shot down by the Soviets. That was a scary time; we were out trying to find remains of the aircraft while those Red bastards were doing the same thing (5). The second was not long back, it was about 2003 to about 2007 when we were supplying and refueling US ships and planes heading to Afghanistan. This was the first combat deployment since the Pacific War."

"Seems like we get dragged into a lot of conflicts by the US," said Yūki.

"Not nearly as many as the British," said Natsuyami.

"Lt. Commander Jinya to the bridge please!" said a voice over the intercom.

"Well I'm off," said the Lt. Commander.

"That was interesting… random, but interesting," said Natsuyami.

"Sure was," said Yūki as she cleaned her glasses.

Natsuyami turned to face to asked her a question, but froze. Yūki had untied her braided pigtails and was just readjusting glasses after cleaning them, closing her eyes as the wind blew. It was quite an impressive scene, her hair whipping freely in the wind, her ankle length skirt fluttering, her button NCO tunic flowing, and her smile at the refreshing sea air coming in from the Sea of Japan. He felt a blush creep over his face and quickly turned when she looked at him.

As he turned to looks out at the sea, she was vaguely admiring his appearance: thin rectangular wire-frame glasses, neatly kept short dark brown hair, small amount of stubble on his face, and his eyes. His eyes were what really got her to stare, the left one was silvery grey, but the right one was bright green. 'Unusual, but… kinda cute,' she thought, 'wait… what?'

"The auxiliary ship is pulling away. Were probably gonna' be needed on the ship," said Yūki trying to get her mind back to work.

"Wha… oh right."

Back to work.

* * *

So ends chapter 24. I know the over plot of the story, but the details I'm just making up as I go along. It should be noted that I may be posting one chapter, but the next one or two are already written. I generally don't like to make big changes once something is written so if anyone has ideas to contribute to my story speak up soon than later.

As for the overall battle I think it's going to be another few chapters like 4 or 5; maybe less. This is going to be a long story. I hope you're enjoying it.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. In Japanese police boxes there is a map of either the city or a general area they work. It would stand to that there would be a map in places like a police box; in Japan people often go to police officers to ask for directions and officers are more than willing to help. It's a useful fact to know if you're visiting Japan, though it would also be a good idea to be able to speak Japanese.

2. Asou is a staff sergeant and even though he is a squad leader like Sakurai, but she outranks him. Staff sergeant is one of the lower non-commissioned officer (NCO or non-com) ranks. In the military there are commissioned officers, warrant officers, non-commissioned officers, and enlisted personal that hold their ranks from highest to lowest respectfully. NCOs jobs in any infantry unit are to be a squad leader, in the special forces a many must be an NCO at the very least.

3. C4 is one of the most common types of military explosives. It's moderately cheap, stable, easy to use, durable, can be transported quite safely, and fairly powerful. C4 is either detonated by a timer, wire detonator, or wireless detonator. It not powerful enough to destroy entire buildings, it's meant for a more tactical sense like support beams, vehicles, tanks, fuel tanks, or weapons caches. For heavier jobs, satchel charges are larger explosives used that are just like C4, but bulkier than C4; satchels are often placed in specific places to sink warships or destroy buildings.

4. 'Frag and clear' is a one of a three tactics used to breach a doorway of some kind. 'Breach and clear' is where soldiers stormed through a doorway one at a time; it is meant for at least four or more soldiers to be storming the room. One man will go check forward and go left or right, the next man will do the same and go the opposite way of the first man, and the next two will go forward into the room to cover the rest of the room; the idea is to move quickly and to cover the entire room. 'Bang and clear' is a tactic used by SWAT, specs ops, and others units. The 'clear' part is the same; the only difference is that they toss a flashbang or some type of stun grenade first. 'Frag and clear' is basically the same as 'bang and clear' expect that they toss a fragmentation grenade in first.

5. Korean Air Liner Flight 007 was a Boeing 747 (Boeing 747-200 to be exact) that flew from Anchorage, Alaska to Seoul, Republic of [South Korea. It penetrated Soviet airspace twice, once over Kamchatka Peninsula and a second over Sakhalin Island; which house a large portion of the Soviet forces in the Northern Pacific. The reasons why KAL 007 was shot down is not only not known, but remains one of the most controversial subjects of the Cold War. It is known that the plane was off course and the Soviets were panicking and that a Soviet Sukoi Su-15 Flagon shot down the 747 mere miles from Japanese airspace where they would have been safe. It was a moment as intense as the Cuban Missile Crisis. Ask your parents or friends who were alive at the time; this will not be something they'll forget easily like it will be a long time before we forget September 11, 2001.


	25. Chapter 25: Checking Out

Chapter 25, this is one long story, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Funny thing is that writing is hard for me, I have the ideas it just isn't easy for me to put it on paper so I frequently have all kinds of errors on an essay or in this case a story. Hope it isn't a problem for ya'll out there.

Well without further ado, I don't own School Rumble, Bleach, or Full Metal Panic. Please review or maybe even tell a friend; thank you.

* * *

**Chapter 25: Checking Out**

"Cut off the head and the body will die."

Unknown (if you know please tell me)

**0825 Hours; July 26****th****, 2010; ten blocks from the Korean People's Army HQ**

"Where is 2nd platoon?!" shouted 1st Lt. Matsumoto to her second in command.

"They just radioed in ma'am, they got separated and lost. They just dropped off some prisoners and are headed our way now!" shouted her sergeant major over the zips of bullets flying over their heads.

"2-8! Relocate your MG to the left flank!" shouted Lt. Matsumoto at a soldier manning an M60 light machine gun. "2-6, get a rocket on that BMP!"

'Shit, I wish the buildings weren't so tall or we could get fire support,' thought Matsumoto as she dived to avoid a burst of 30mm fire from the BMP-2. She saw Echo 2-6 fire an AT4 at the BMP-2 and destroy it.

The buildings in the area were all at least 20 stories tall, many were taller which made it difficult for choppers and fighters to provide air support and nearly just as hard for howitzers or even mortars to bombard the streets.

"They're falling back!" shouted Echo 3-1.

Matsumoto could see he was right and saw a chance to gain ground. "Forward, now!"

1st platoon charged to a pile of rubble that the PKA had used as a barricade. Matsumoto found herself using a destroyed Mi-24 Hind for cover. 'If they're crazy enough to fly into these streets why don't we have pilots who do that?'

"Lieutenant! The Captain is on the line for ya'!" shouted a radioman handing her the receiver.

"This is Echo 1-1, come in Echo leader," she said.

"I need a SITREP," said Captain Hitsugaya.

"2nd platoon got separated from us, I don't know their status other than they're still alive. We're fighting for every block. I'm glad 2nd platoon is tacking the hotel because I don't think we'll have the strength for it," said Matsumoto.

"I see, good. 3rd platoon here is digging in and we just got hit by an enemy armor platoon support by choppers. Judging by the amount of soldiers they're throwing at us I don't think they have a lot of people defending the hotel."

"What do you mean Captain?" asked Matsumoto confused because she sure felt like they were fighting against a pretty difficult enemy.

"These guys look like they're reinforcements being sent to stop your advance. If you could see the amount of firepower they're trying to throwing your, you'd see they do not seem to have a lot of confidence in their defenses," said Captain Hitsugaya.

Matsumoto nodded, even though he couldn't see, "Okay then, we'll keep pushing and can you see about getting support."

"I already call in for armor and 28th Armor Battalion is sending a squad your way."

"Rodger that, arigato Captain, Echo 1-1 out."

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**0940 Hour; July 26****th****, 2010; one block from the Kin Omizu Hotel, PKA HQ**

"Gomen (sorry) about our being late ma'am," said Lt. Hashigawa as 2nd platoon arrived at last.

"I'm just glad that you're here," said Lt. Matsumoto, happy to see reinforcements. "We should stay by, one of Dagger Company's squads is on their way."

"What's their ETA?"

"1 minute."

Two Japanese Type 90 heavy tanks were barreling up the street crushing debris in the path. "This Dagger 3-3 and 3-4, just tell us where to go Lieutenant."

"There's a T-62 plus two T-54s in front of the Kin Omizu," said Matsumoto into a radio. "We'll try and keep the RPGs off you. Just keep us covered and carve a path for 2nd platoon."

"Copy that ma'am… stand by. Gunner, load a sabot and target that T-54 on the left… fire!" Matsumoto felt hear ears ring from the muzzle blast of the 120mm gun. A sabot streaked through the air, blasted apart, and propelled the real projectile at an incredible speed that punctured the tank's armor. The T-54 front was ripped open and the engine was blasted out of the rear from the explosion.

The tanks slowly crawled forward with 1st platoon using the tanks as cover while they advance. From the buildings above, the PKA soldiers were firing AK-47s, SKSs, RPKs, RPDs, PPSH-41s, RPG-7s, and any other weapon they could use on the Japanese. The tanks commanders were manning .50 caliber machine guns mounted on the hatch and returning fire while giving a stream of orders to the crews. Chunks of concrete, steel, glass, and even a few bodies rained down on them as the Type 90s fired shots into the buildings with their main guns.

A blast ripped through part of 2nd squad as a 100mm shell hit the position they were in. In response, the T-54 that opened fire on 2nd squad was shattered by a HEAT round from a Type 90. The T-62 seeing its allies destroyed began to withdraw, but was hit in the track by an AT4, leaving it disabled. On the turret of the T-62, the tank commander and gunner opened their respective hatches and raised their hands in the air; the driver popped his hatch open and joined his comrades in surrendering.

"Get a round on that door!" shouted Lt. Hashigawa as 2nd platoon advanced from the rear to the front of the hotel. Dagger 3-4 turned its turret to face the barricaded front entrance of the Gin Omizu and fired an HE round into the front entrance. Dust clouded the air and pieces of wood and metal flew though the air as the entrance was blown open.

"Throw grenades, then charge!" shouted Lt. Hashigawa. About half a dozen grenades were tossed into the hotel kicking up more dust in the explosions. "4th squad, breach! 5th squad you're next! 6th squad follow 5th!"

Guns blazing, 4th squad was pushing their way in. Asou doubled-over and walked in with his gun raised. He saw PKA soldiers on an elegant staircase that led to the upper floors; he fired a 3 round bursts at into them. Kitsumori ran in and mounted his FN Minini's bipod on a table with brochures stacked on them and fired at long bursts at the PKA soldiers as they darted around. Harima and Jupei joined Kitsumori and fired from behind a couch in the lobby. Kurosaki fired a continuous burst of automatic fired at the front desk while Abarai prepped a grenade and tossed it.

A silence descended on the lobby. "Clear!"

"Okay, 1st platoon will secure a perimeter. Let's clear this floor and then push upstairs," said Lt. Hashigawa.

5th squad ran towards the dining room's glass pane doors. Asou opened the door and walked in with Yamako, Ishida, and Kaoji right behind him; they immediately spread out along with the rest of 5th squad. The room was full of tables with white tablecloths, red napkins, and other things as though they were preparing for diner.

"Check the kitchen," said Asou.

Ikuro led her to the double doors of to the kitchen. She paused to listen at the door and signaled that someone was inside. She slowly opened one of the doors and Abarai and Kusosaki filed in behind her. A PKA soldier was looting some of the silverware, not realizing that three Japanese soldiers were right behind him.

"Jap bastards, they rape our women, destroy are homelands, and they eat and live well," grumbled the PKA soldier in Korean.

With Kurosaki and Abarai with their weapons trained on him, Ikuro decied to get his attention by picking up a soup pot and dropping it on the spotless tile floor. The soldier wheeled around upon hearing the noise and saw two Japanese soldiers with Type 89 assault rifles and one with an M4A1 carbine.

"Surrender," said Ikuro, or at least she hoped that was what she said since she didn't speak Korean.

The PKA soldier's AK-47 was lying on a cutting board just outside of his reached. Slowly he reached behind his back while Ikuro slowly, gently stepped forward with her gun raise.

"DIE!" screamed the soldier as he chucked a cutting knife he managed to grab behind his back. Ikuro shrieked in pain as the knife cut her arm. As the soldier dived for his gun Abarai and Kurosaki opened fire.

"Is he dead?" asked Abarai.

"I think the big pool of blood forming around him is kinda' a give away," said Kurosaki sarcastically as indeed a pool of blood formed, very clear against the white tile floor.

"Miyu-san, daijōbu (are you alright)?" asked Kurosaki. "Here, let me take a look."

She nodded and removed her hand from her arm. Kurosaki inspected the wound; he pulled out a bandage and wrapped it around her arm. "That will have to do for now, it's not deep so it'll be okay for a while, but I want to check it later to see if it gets infected."

"Sure, and arigato," said Ikuro.

A few minutes later the ground floor appeared to be secure. 4th squad, along with Lt. Hashigawa was leading the way up the main staircase while 5th went up the emergency stairs and 6th went up a secondary staircase.

All squads and squad members communicated via short range radios mounted on their ears, similar to a blue tooth, but required no phone and could only carry a single about a half mile.

"This is 5 squad, we're on the third floor. Proceeding to check and clear," said Asou as he gently opened the door.

"Clear," said Yamako as he gazed out the door with his rifle raised.

"Has someone cleared this floor?" asked Ishida he saw bullet holes and blood on the wall.

Kurosaki examined the blood and shook his head, "Iē, this is dry. It must have been here for maybe several hours"

"Are those 5.52mm rounds?" asked Kaoji.

"Looks like so however was here was on our side… or using a NATO weapon."

"Check that door," said Ikuro pointing to door marked 'Employees Only.'

"It's locked, hang on a sec'," said Abarai, he stepped back and kicked the door and than jumped back howling in pain.

"Uh… Abarai, some places like to reinforce doors so people can't kick 'em open. Especially government buildings and upscale businesses," said Ishida shaking his head and adjusting his glasses on his nose like he always did when he was explaining or lecturing people.

"It looks like someone broke it down once before," noted Harima seeing damage to the door frame and that it was recently repaired.

"This should work," said Shimazu releasing the safety Remington 870 and aiming it at the door. He fired one shot into the door jam and two where the door hinges were. The door slowly fell backwards into the room.

"Breaching, breaching!" shouted Ikuro as she led her assault team into a room full of security monitors. There were only a few KPA soldiers in the room and they were overpowered.

There was one soldier in a corner who was staring down the barrel of Harima's Type 87 assault rifle. The soldier slowly placed his PPSH-41 sub-machine gun on the ground and raised his arms slowly. Hanai pulled out a plastic cable zip tie (1), wrapped it around the soldier's wrists, and tightened them.

They left the restrained soldier for someone else to deal with and cleared the floor. They met little resistance as they cleared the third floor, than the sixth floor, the ninth floor, and every third floor.

"This is Echo 4-1, we're pinned down on the main staircase outside of the conference room, we've sighted PKA VIPs (very important person) (2), all squads make your way to the 27th floor," said Lt. Hashigawa.

"This is Echo 6-1, we're on the 26th floor, ETA 40 seconds."

"This is Echo 5-1, we're on the 24th floor, ETA 120 seconds," said Asou. They were on a hallway with a row of windows that faced the street.

"This is Echo 1-1," said Matsumoto from the outside, "all Echo call signs be advised, we have an incoming Mi-24 Hind, all units take cover."

"This is Dagger 3-3, releasing smoke screen."

Harima looked down onto the street from a window and saw the two Type 90s shooting smoke grenades from launchers mounted on the turret. He saw the smoke trail from the grenades as they hit the ground and smoke billow up effectively hiding them from the view of the chopper.

The Mi-24 Hind, pulled into view, Harima had seen them attack them before, but never this close. It was huge, much bigger than the choppers the Americans and the rest of NATO use (3). He could see it had six rocket pods, three on each side, and a four barrel .50 caliber gatling gun under the noise. He saw the gatling gun wheel to face the hotel and fire a burst.

"Shit! Take cover!" shouted someone over the radio.

"This is 4-1, the main staircase is in its line of fire! Someone shoot it down!"

Harima saw the chopper turn slowly to bring its rocket pods to face the hotel.

"Harima, shoot it with a rocket," said Asou.

"But it's a chopper, it'll just fly out of the way," protested Harima.

"It can't move quickly, if it does it could crash," said Asou.

Harima leaned his rifle against a wall and grabbed the strap of the AT4 that was slung over his back. He released the weapons safety and took aim. He fired a rocket, he jerked back from the recoil. The 84mm AT rocket smashed into the main fuselage. The Hind listed and began to spin.

"Look out!" screamed Abarai, the Hind's spin was about to bring the chopper's tail crashing into the floor windows of the hallway they were on.

Rolling, scattering, and diving, 5th squad managed to avoid the concrete and twisted metal that flew through the air upon impact of the chopper.

"Uh, guys… a little help here," said Harima. The chopper had taken out part of the outside wall and some of the floor; Harima was dangling by one hand. Hanai and Kitsumori both dived for his hand and pulled him back onto stable ground.

"Daijōbu, Kenji?" asked Hanai.

"Hai, but I lost my rifle," said Harima looked down the chuck of floor missing to the street below where his Type 87 was, though not likely in working condition after a 24 story drop.

"We need to get upstairs," said Asou.

"Hai."

They dashed the stairs; Harima in the absence of his rifle drew his Colt .45 out. Asou opened the door to the 27th floor and drew back as a burst of rifle fire hit the door. Asou stuck his rifle around the corner without exposing his head and emptied his clip.

'Fuck, there isn't anyway around, we can only go through this door,' thought Asou. "Kitsumori, cover fire, everyone else… mount bayonets."

The soldiers of 5th squad who had an M4A1 carbine or a Type 87 assault rifle, at least the ones without grenade launchers (4). Kitsumori fired continuously causing the PKA soldiers to scatter and seek cover. Asou, feeling very much like he'd lost his mind completely, charged down the hallway screaming at the top of his lungs. A PKA soldier leaned out from a doorway and Asou plowed into him and pinned him into the wall. He twisted the bayonet while the soldier screamed and shrieked in pain, blood poring out from his chest.

Asou withdrew with bayonet and continued down the hallway, now running off pure adrenalin. He and the others had sliced open at least 18 PKA soldiers. Looking down Asou saw that he had blood all over his uniform and hands.

"This is 4-1, we are almost at the conference room."

"This is 5-1, we are at a side entrance to conference room," said Asou seeing an employee's entrance to the room.

"Breach and take anyone you can, Echo 4-1 out."

"Okay, everyone line up along the wall, will breach and clear. Someone get a charge on that door," ordered Asou.

Shimazu pulled out a C2 charge, a stick with a thick cable loop around the top. He slid it on the doorknob and stuck a wire attached to a detonator. He jogged away from the door and waited for the signal.

Asou waved his hand violently towards the door and Shimazu pressed the button. There was a small blast and the area around the doorknob was blown off.

"Breaching!"

With an even greater feeling that he'd gone over the edge and descended into insanity, Asou led his squad. The conference room was a large room with a high ceiling to opened up to a huge glass skylight. There was a long, massive finely polished oak table with padded swivel chairs all around it. Along the walls columns stood sturdy to help support the ceiling. Asou gunned down two PKA soldiers. He kept running forward when something swing out from behind a column. He felt pain for a brief moment before blackness over took him.

Behind Asou, Harima saw a PKA officer smash Asou in the face with the stock of an unloaded AK-47. Harima watched in horror as Asou fell backwards, blood spraying from his nose which was clearly broken. Asou's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he collapsed on the carpeted floor. Harima raised his Colt .45 at the officer who was just realizing that Harima was there. The PKA officer's eyes widened in shock which changed to blackness when a slug hit him in the chest and a second in the neck from Harima's Colt .45. Harima took one step forward to see if his squad leader was still alive when a burst of rifle fire forced him to dive for the floor. He jumped up and fired 6 shots, the slide bolt locked in the open position and he ducked. Harima ejected the empty clip, loaded a fresh one, and proceeded to empty all 8 rounds on anything that looked like the enemy.

"Kenji, they're at least 100m (5) away! Get a rifle!" shouted Hanai.

On his belly, Harima crawled to the PKA officer he'd killed, grabbed the AK-47, slipped the utility belt off another soldier, pulled a fresh clip of Soviet 7.62x39mm M43 cartridges, and loaded the Kalashnikov. He pulled the bolt back and shoved it close, he could tell by the look and feel of the weapon that it was probably two or three times his age. He was surprised by the recoil which was larger than Type 87 or M4A1 he'd fired in training. He was a little disappointed by the AK-47, for all its fame it was not performing as well as the legendary gun claimed. It was still an adequate weapon that killed though.

"Cease fire!" shouted someone. "Room secure!"

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**1038 Hours; July 26****th****, 2010; outside of the Gin Omizu Hotel**

"That waz' quite a blow ya' took, Staff Sergeant Asou," said a medic who spoke with an Osakan accent. He was shining a small flashlight in Asou's eyes to check his eyesight.

"Sergeant Asou, I think this is yours," said Kurosaki handing him a small pearly object.

"Nani?" groaned Asou, he sounded like he was in pain.

"That woud' be a tooth. Don't worry much, da' Self-Defense Forces can give ya' a fake tooth an' that 'ill work jus' fine. Jus' go up to da' where we got the medical unit set up," said the medic. He left a packet that held two Tylenol pills in Asou's hand and walked off to examine other soldiers.

Asou ripped the packet open with his teeth, swallowed the pills, took his canteen off his belt, and drank down some water.

"At least you're not dead. You've been a good squad leader too us and we wouldn't know what to do," said Hanai.

"Glad you think so, cause I really have no idea what I'm doing," said Asou with a painful grimace. "I'm just making this shit up as I go."

"Where's Harima?" asked Asou noticing he wasn't around.

"What do I look like, his keeper?" asked Hanai with a frown.

"Aren't you?" asked Asou with a raised eyebrow, the rest of the squad stared at Hanai.

Hanai turned red and looked down saying, "Kenji's trying to see if the Americans have any spare guns around."

The American 132nd Armor Battalion and the Japanese 81st Heliborne/Armor Regiment was setting up a forward HQ. US and Japanese trucks had been driving around bring in equipment.

"Well, I'm going to get a fake tooth for my missing one. Hanai, fine Harima and make sure that he doesn't hurt the Americans if they don't give him a gun. Ikuro, have someone make sure that knife wound isn't infected. Shimazu… uh… just make sure nothing bad happens while I'm gone," said Asou as he went back inside the hotel.

* * *

Well, so ends the first part of the assault on Shinomoseki. Now for the tough part, the attack on the Chinese HQ. Prepare to start seeing a lot of the Germans since the Japanese will be coordinating their attack with them. I think the next chapter I might let 5th squad take a break from the fighting and rest. Their may be fictional, but they need a break too.

Thank you to Perrou, since you've left about 4 reviews I'm starting to feel like I have a fan.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. Plastic cable ties or something similar are often used by the military to restrain surrendering people. Handcuffs are often too big or bulky to carry around; where as plastic ties can easily fit inside of a pocket and are much lighter than handcuffs.

2. VIPs in the military can refer to any number of things. It can be government officials, military officers, terrorist leaders, major members of a group, spies, or some kind of target of value.

3. The Mi-24 Hind is the most common model attack helicopter in service. It is much larger than any attack chopper in service with NATO. The Hind was designed to carry a large payload of free-flight rocket pods, it can even carry bombs, or guided missiles. It mainly carries free-flight rockets and sprays their targets with a barrage of rockets. NATO choppers like the Mangusta, Tiger, Cobra, and Apache are smaller because they were designed to carry small numbers of guided missiles and destroy their enemies with minimal amounts of ammo.

4. Sub-machine guns, light machine guns, and sniper rifles do not have the mount for a bayonet; shotguns have occasionally had bayonet mounts like the Winchester 1897 12-Gauge Trench Gun. Rifles with grenade launchers usually have bayonet mounts, but since the bayonet is mounted under the rifle where the grenade launcher is, it is just common sense that the bayonet would be in the way of the grenade launcher (literally). Many people question the practicality of bayonets since they are rarely used in modern warfare; as a result some generals think that bayonet mounts will no longer be included on US guns anymore, but no decision has been made.

5. Most handguns only have an effective range of about 50 yards (45 meters; not exact). 100 yards or roughly 150 meters is the effective range of a machine pistol (sub-machine gun). A carbine normally has twice that effective range, roughly 200 yards or 300 meters. Assault rifles normally have the effective range of 600 yards or 550 meters. Lighter sniper rifles like the Remington 700 (USMC's M40 series or the US Army's M24 series) have an effective range of about 1,100 yards or 1,000 meters. Heavier sniper rifles like the M82A1A of 1,800 meters or 2,200 yards.


	26. Chapter 26: Phone Calls

This chapter, well to be honest I have only a general idea of where they go. I have a few major events lined up and then I need to fill in the gaps in between. Bear with me, okay?

I don't own School Rumble, Bleach, or Full Metal Panic.

* * *

**Chapter 26: Phone Calls**

"An iron curtain is descending upon Europe."

Winston Churchill, in reference to the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe

**1055 Hours; July 26****th****, 2010; lobby of the Gin Omizu Hotel**

"Raifu wa, onegai? (You have rifle, please?)," asked Harima to a Hispanic man unloading crates off an M939.

"I don't speak Japanese," he said curtly, clearly not interested in conversation.

"You… have rifle? I take?" asked Harima, mentally hitting himself for not paying attention to Tani-sensei when he was teaching them English.

"No, go away," said the soldier in the same curt tone. He finished unloading and light up a cigarette.

"Pleazu? (please)."

"No."

"OKAY YOU BASTARD, GIVE ME A GUN OR ELSE!" screamed Harima, forgetting the man didn't speak Japanese, grabbing the man by the collar causing his cigarette to fall out.

"Kenji, I don't that's going to help your cause," said Hanai.

"Ah, Haruki, you speak English?"

"Not much better than you, but I think you should try somewhere else."

"Fine," said Harima; he dropped the American soldier with a thud who stared, than went back to smoking with a shrug.

They walked up to a black man who was reading an old Japanese newspaper. Based off that, Harima guessed that he understood Japanese or why else would he being reading a Japanese paper.

"Do you have any spare rifles?" asked Harima.

"Why?" asked the American.

"Mine got totaled in that last fight," said Harima showing the man the bent Type 87 that had fallen over 20 stories.

"Shit, that ain't gonna' do you much good. Can't you get one from your own army?"

"I tried that first."

"Okay, follow me."

The man pulled on a jacket with a sergeant major insignia on the sleeve and led Hanai and Harima to a makeshift supply depot.

"Gyles, ya' got any primary weapon request forms in Japanese?" asked the sergeant major.

"Sir, we don't even have the Albanian versions in yet, and they joined NATO years ago."

"Okay, you fill this out," said the sergeant major handing a form to Harima.

"What is it?"

"An order form for NATO members to request a primary weapon from another NATO member. We have it in French, German, Spanish, Italian, Flemish, Dutch, Greek, and Arabic, we've yet to get the Albanian sheet and I doubt the army has made the Japanese one."

After nearly an hour of painstaking work, Harima filled out the form and handed it in.

"Dozo (here), we couldn't spare any of the new M-16A5s or the old A4s, but we have some of the new M-14E3s available," said the sergeant major handing Harima a carbon fiber and fiberglass, it was grey with the metal parts painted black. It felt like it weighed about 4kg or so.

"Arigato, sir," said Harima with a salute and walked off with Hanai.

"Don't you want ammo for it?" called the sergeant major.

Hanai sweat-dropped and Harima gave an embarrassed laugh before running back for an ammo belt with five pockets containing two 30 round clips NATO 7.62x51mm match cartridge each.

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**1100 Hours; July 27****th****, 2010; Prime Minister's officer; Tokyo; Tokyo Prefecture; Japan**

"Aokami-shushō (Prime Minister Aokami)?" asked a soft female voice.

"Hai, Sakata-san?" asked the Prime Minister of Japan, who looked a lot paler and thinner since the war started.

"I need these forms signed for the Ministry of Defense," she said handing him several legal contracts.

"What are they?"

"The first form is from the American aviation company McDonnell-Douglas to purchase the new F-15G (1), as well as the F-18E Super Hornet for our new carrier being built in the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (2). Another contract from Northrop-Grumman for the F-14D Super Tomcat," said Sakata as she placed a stack of folders containing several contracts. "I also have contracts from Colt Firearms and other foreign gun companies."

The Prime Minister sighed, "I hope I don't bankrupt Japan in this war, but we need to upgrade our offensive military power for the coming invasion of Korea."

The Japanese were upgrading their arm forces and weapons companies were moving fast to answer their needs. Kawasaki had introduced an improved version of the C-1 twin engine tactical transport, the new C-3 had four engines, was larger, and could transport one heavy tank like the Type 90 or two Type 74 medium tanks; something which the C-1 couldn't do. Kawasaki had also introduce a bomber, the B-3, a sleeker thinner version of the C-3 that could vaguely resembled the American B-52, but smaller and only carrier about 25 tons of bombs instead of the B-52's 40 ton payload.

"Also, Aokami-shushō, due to the fact that we our producing heavy long range bombers and have an aircraft carrier in production we cannot be officially called a 'self-defense force.' We now have to be called a military because of our offensive military we are currently acquiring, or at least that's what the international community says," said Sakata handing Aokami a notice with the United Nation's letterhead.

"It is that big a deal?" asked Aokami, a little surprised that the UN had spent time and energy to create definitions to distinguish between a self-defense force and a military; he'd certainly never known that was a difference.

"Apparently there is a difference, and it matters to them," said Sakata nonchalantly.

"Okay then… well the Japanese Federal Self-Defense Forces are now the Japanese Armed Forces. The Ground Self-Defense Forces will now be the Japanese Federal Army, the Maritime Self-Defense Forces will be the Japanese Federal Navy, and the Air Self-Defense Forces will be the Japanese Federal Air Force."

"I will pass on the information to the Ministry of Defense."

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**1130 Hours; July 25****th****, 2010; White House, Washington DC (3)**

'Like I need all this,' thought President Crane. She was reviewing a bill to conduct covert operations in Iran.

"General, I understand why you want this, but explain to me why this won't overextend our armed forces like my predecessor's wars?" asked President Crane.

"Well, we feel that we can keep this operation on a very small scale."

"That is what Bush thought about Afghanistan and Iraq and look how that ended. Frankly General I feel you're only here because the Senate Defense Committee refused to sign your bill and you want me to influence them," she said with the tone that suggested he was wasting her time.

"But…"

"Iran isn't up to anything; I have this report from Israel conforming that and a report from Germany, England, Turkey, and even Russia and the Middle East Coalition to back up those reports. If Iran was up to someone would have noticed."

"Yes ma'am."

"Perhaps you could find that renegade Soviet unit."

"We need a bigger budget."

"The military has a way of wasting money needlessly," pointed out President Crane. "President Eisenhower once say the price of a destroyer was roughly equal to a three fully equipped hospitals, a new B-52 equal to five new public schools, every dollar spent on a the military was a dollar not spent to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and clothe the cold (4)."

"I'll see to it personally that every penny is accounted for," said the general.

"Good, or I will see to it that you're replaced. Don't turn it into a second war; I only want to be fighting one war at a time if I have to fight at all."

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**1500 Hours; July 26****th****, 2010; US 132****nd**** Armored Battalion/ 81****st**** Heliborne/Armor Regiment HQ; Shinomoseki, Japan**

Asou walked towards the battered front entrance of the Gin Omizu Hotel, his jaw aching despite the small dosage of pain killers.

"Sir! Over here!" shouted a familiar voice. Asou saw his squad laid out and relaxing on the arm chairs and couches in an area to the side of the lobby.

Ikuro, Shimazu, and a few others were playing cards. Ishida was casually playing a grand piano that was over in a corner of the room. Harima was sitting at a coffee table pouring over his manga. Kurosaki was lounging in an arm chair reading a medical journal. Koaji was studying the German language. The most the rest were either sleeping or scrounging around for food.

Asou signed and pulled out a book on learning the English language and began to read.

About an hour later a Yamako came over to where the squad was relaxing. He place a tray piled with sandwiches, took one for himself, and stepped back as the squad dived for a sandwich. No one had eaten for nearly the past twelve hours.

"Uh… guys when you're done eating, I found out that the pay phones still work and you can use them if you want," said Yamako.

A little later, 5th squad, along with most of Echo Company, was lined up for the phone booths. There were about 12 booths, each with a sound proof door and walls to ensure the users privacy.

**Call #1**

Ringing.

"Mushi Mush (hello)?" asked a male cold male voice.

"Oto-sama (father), how are you?"

"Uryū, you're still alive?" asked Ishida Ryūken with mild surprise.

"Hai."

"What do you want?"

"Nothing, just to say hi."

"… have you been well?"

"Well enough… it's kinda' ugly out here."

"I know… I was in USMC in Iraq," sighed Ryūken.

"Really?" asked Uryū, he knew his father was born in America and moved to Japan in mid 90's, but he never knew his father was in US Marine Corp.

"Yeah, I remember fighting the Republican Guard, jumping out of choppers, riding around in HUMMVWs, and… you know."

"Hai…"

"… I'm… proud of you… son."

"… arigato, Oto-sama."

**Call #2**

Ringing… ringing.

"This is the Abarai residence. Gomen, but we are unable to come to the phone, please leave a message after the beep. **Beep**."

"Oto-san (father), Oka-san (mother), its Renji… uh I just got a chance to call, but I guess you're not home right now… er… what was I gonna' say? I guess I just want to say that I'm okay… we lost a few guys, but I'm okay. Ichigo and Uryū are fine too. Oh and hey guess what? Remember Histugaya Tōshirō, he joined the Ground Forces after he graduated Karakura High School? He's are company commander now, and Matsumoto is our 2nd in command. Anyways I'm safe and I want to say I love you guys and tell Tatsuki I said hi… bye."

**Call #3**

Ringing… ringing.

"Ikuro Megumi, Attorney at Law, how may I help you?" asked a polite female voice.

"Mama, konnichiwa."

"Miyu?! How are you?! Are you okay?! Where are you?!" Ikuro Megumi began to burry her daughter with questions, practically hysterical.

"Mama, I'm fine, I'm in Shinomoseki," said Miyu in a calming tone. Her mother was prone to 'freaking out' as she put when it came to her daughter's safety.

"But isn't there a lot of fighting down there?"

"Hai, but we're in a bit a lull right now so you can relax right now." Miyu could hear her mother let out a sigh of relief.

"You know there was an air raid scare up here?" asked Megumi.

"Hai, but it was nothing, they mistaken a group of American planes for communist planes," said Miyu, it wasn't the first time Sapporo was told of air raids that weren't real in the past month.

"It's taking its toll on people. Taka family is thinking about moving now."

"Nani?! But they'd be safer up north. The Chinese and North Koreans can't attack because they'd risk drawing out the Russians against them if they stray into Russian waters."

"So I hear… I hate to do this, but I'm expecting a call."

"Mmnn, its fine, there are people behind me waiting for a turn."

"I love you Miyu."

"I love you too Mama, bye."

**Call #4**

Ringing.

"Mushi mush?" answered a young male voice.

"Konnichiwa, Shinju. Is Oto-san or Oka-san there?"

"Onii-chan is that you?" asked Shimazu Shinju.

"Hai, are they home?"

"Iē, they're at work."

"I see… are you well?"

"Hai," said Shinju brightly. "I've been playing soccer a lot and I made the team…"

Shimazu listened to his little brother talked about school, fighting with their little sister, a new bike he just got, Oto-san accidentally blowing up the microwave when he tried to cook diner, and other parts of their day to day lives. Shimazu felt a small smile come to his face and tears come to his eyes, he drank in every detail like a drowning man clinging to driftwood.

"I have to go now."

"Okay Onii-chan, bye-bye."

"Hai, bye-bye."

**Call #5**

Ringing.

"Mushi Mushi, this is the Kurosaki residence, Kurosaki Yuzu speaking," said a bubbly sweet young female voice.

"Konnichiwa, Yuzu," said Ichigo in his best attempt at a calm voice, but noticing his voice wobbled.

"Ichi-nii!" he screamed in delight. In the background, Ichigo could hear a scuffling noise.

"Ichi-nii!"

"Ichigo!"

"I take it take Karin and To-san are home," sighed Ichigo.

"Hai and… To-san wait you're turn...!"

"ICHIGO! My son, how are you?!" roared an overly happy male voice.

"You know its rude interrupt a conversation, especially your own daughter's," scolded Ichigo feeling a vein pulse in his forehead.

"Awww, your being mean," whined his father, then in serious tone, "What's it like out there."

"Nothing like your description of Desert Storm (5)."

"Yeah… well… back when Ishida-san, Urahara-san, and me were in USMC, things were different. I'm sure the PKA and PLA are nothing like the Republican Guard and the Iraqi Army."

"Hai… are Yuzu and Karin doing okay in school?"

"Hai… you okay?"

"Hai… can I talk to them again."

"Hai, just a sec'."

"Ichi-nii."

"Hi Karin, how's soccer?"

"Good, just kicked some ass against these older kids. How are you?"

"Good, just kicked some PKA ass."

"Who?"

"Er, People's Korean Army, that's what the North Koreans call themselves."

"Well, I'm okay, I'm gonna' put Yuzu on."

"Hi Ichi-nii!"

"Hi Yuzu, how is school?"

"Good, hey guess what?" she asked excitedly.

"What?" asked Ichigo trying to sound excited for his little sister.

"I just got a job at the bakery down the street!" squealed Yuzu.

"That's great," laughed Ichigo at his sister. He could hear Karin and father congratulating Yuzu.

"Yuzu, Karin, To-san… I have to go now… I love you guys… take care."

**Call #6**

Ringing… ringing… ringing.

"This is the Kitsumori residence, leave a sent after the beep. **Beep**."

"Oka-sama, Oto-sama, its me… Kazu… I'm in Shinomoseki and we just beat the PKA… just wanted to say hi and let you know I'm safe… bye."

**Call #7**

Ringing.

"Hello?" answer a female voice in English.

"Nee-chan, how are you?"

"Taro? Taro Kaoji?"

"Do you know another?"

"As a matter of fact I do, but how are you?"

"A little scared, but mostly okay. How is work at the embassy?"

"Oh you know, we're meeting with the US State Department every other day, trying to generate as much support as possible."

"Sounds less dangerous than my work."

"I'm sure it is… uh… Taro I have a meeting coming up… I'm afraid I have to go now."

"Okay… just wanted to say hi… bye Nee-san."

"Good-bye Taro-kun."

**Call #8**

Ringing.

"Jupei Shipping Company, how may I help you?"

"To-chan, konnichiwa."

"……… Miho-chan?" asked a man's voice in a horse whisper.

"Hai."

"Where are you, or can you not say?"

"I'm in Shinomoseki…"

"Where all the fighting is?"

"Hai, but I'm okay… so how's business?"

"A little slow, first the commies used some of my trucks, then they took stole some of the stuff I was shipping, can you believe it?!" he said indignantly.

"Hai, I can."

"Well, thankfully the Germans came through and ran them out of Hiroshima. Nice guys the Germans. Very strict and no one speaks their language, but they seem like nice people. The only annoying thing is that they and our guys are flying planes in and out of Hiroshima 24-7. The noise gets to you, especially late at night."

"Same over here, but they drop the bombs here."

"Oh, yeah… they do that, don't they? … huh."

"I have to go."

"Please be careful," he said quickly.

"Only if you will, bye To-chan."

**Call #9**

Ringing.

"Marumoto residence, who may I ask is calling?"

"Marumotos-san, it's me Ichiro."

"Suzuki Ichiro, the baseball player (6)?" she asked excitedly.

"Iē, Yamako Ichiro, the guy who's engaged to you daughter, remember?"

"Oh… so how are you?" she asked in a cheery.

"Tired, I just spent my morning in one shootout after another."

"Oh my, well that's sounds like fun."

"Oka-chan, give me the phone!" shout a new voice.

"Gomen, Ichiro."

"Is she okay?" asked Yamako Ichiro.

"Hai, you how she gets."

"Weird?"

"Exactly. So you're down south?"

"Shinomoseki."

"At least you're not in Kitakyushu, the newscaster says the fighting is intense."

"Well it's not exactly a cake walk here."

"Are you hurt?" she asked worriedly.

"Small bump on the head and a few scratches."

He heard her sniffle a little. "Hiromi, what's wrong?"

"I… fe… feel bad that I couldn't join up."

"Well, I'd have a heart attack if you were in the Self-Defense Forces too. Besides it's not like you can leave your mother alone, remember the grievance paper you signed that absolved you from service because of your mother," reasoned Yamako.

"I know, I know, but…"

"Look, as soon as this war is over. I'm gonna' come home, marry you, get a job, and help take care of your mother."

"Okay… I love you Ichiro."

"I love you too Hiromi, I'll call as soon as I can."

**Call #10**

Ringing… ringing.

"This is the Hanai Family Dojo, leave a massage after the beep. **Beep**."

"Hi, Oto-sama, Oka-sama… it's me, Haruki… I'm in Shinomoseki. We just took the PKA HQ and I heard they're surrendering now. That just leaves us with the Chinese to beat, and will have won the battle. I can't tell you much about what has happen, but it wasn't pretty. I… did some crazy things… if you hear from Mokoto tell her I said hi… I need to go… bye."

**Call #11**

Ringing.

"Mushi mushi?"

"Oka-san, it's me."

"Hiroyoshi, how are you?" asked the woman cheerily.

"Uh… I don't know… after today I think I've lost my mind… uh and lost a tooth."

"NANI?!"

"Got hit in the face and led a bayonet charge, but they've taken care of my tooth and I have a fake one in its place."

"Well, let that teach you to be safer in a war zone."

"Once a mother, always a mother, eh?" sweat-dropping at his mother's scolding.

"A good mother never stops no matter how old her child or their career."

"How are you? I know the fighting came very to you and Oto-san."

"Hai, but we're on the other side of Osaka. It didn't reach us."

"That's good," said Asou letting out a sigh of relief.

"Hiroyoshi… could I ask you a favor?"

"Huh?"

"You're little brother… er…um."

"What did Yuuya do this time?"

"His apartment in Tokyo got condemned and he has until September to move out… could he stay at your place?"

Asou sighed. "Hai, if I get leave before then I'll help him move in my place, but he has to follow my rules."

"You know your brother, he's always eager to please."

"Don't I know it. Look, do you have the old school directory?"

"Hai."

"Look up the name Adiemus Sarah, she's been housing sitting and I don't want her walk in and freak out if Yuuya's there before I get home and can explain the situation to her. You know how Yuuya handles stressful situations, he freaks out too and makes it worse."

"Hai, but he always means well… arigato and take care Hiroyoshi."

"You too Oka-san."

**Call #12**

Ringing… ringing.

"Mushi mushi?" answer a quiet female voice.

"Hey, Yakumo-san, is Mai there?"

"Kenji-sempei… uh iē, she and Nee-san went to the market."

"Oh… well arigato for helping Itōko take care of her."

"Iē, zenzen (no it was nothing)."

"I'm done with the next chapter and I'll have it mailed to you as soon as I can. And as soon as I can find a means to mail since the postal service isn't really working around here."

"Hai, I'll look it over and send it on… are you… uh?"

"I'm fine, almost fell to my death from the 24th story of this hotel," said Harima proudly,  
you should see this place, I could never afford to stay five minutes in a place like this. I only here because were using it as an HQ. How are you?"

"Uh… good… a little worried."

"About what?" asked Harima, drawing a blank.

"…. You."

"Ha! They haven't touched me yet. Rest easy Yakumo-san, because I'm Harima Kenji. Those North Americans can't hurt me."

"Kenji-sempei, you're fighting the North Koreans."

"I know, that was a joke… you know to cheer you up. Don't think I don't know how you operate. You mope in a corner and refuse to talk to anyone."

Yakumo smiled, Harima wasn't the most artful of speakers, with the exception of his manga, but he did the best he could with what he had. "Arigato."

"Tell Mai that her Onii-chan is still alive and well and kicking ass. Oh and say hi to your sister. Take care of yourself Yakumo-san. Don't worry about me, I know I sound like I use to in high school, but I'm taking this job seriously. Bye."

"Good-bye, Kenji-sempie," she said as the dial tone buzzed in Yakumo's ears, she whispered the words she couldn't find the courage to say to him. "I love you... and come back to me."

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"Is this Echo Company?" asked a small man with a Type 87 assault rifle.

"Hai, 2nd platoon to be exact. Why?" asked 2nd Lt. Hashigawa.

"I'm Private Hitsayo Taira and… uh." He held a piece of paper in front of his face and consulted it. "… and I'm looking for a Staff Sergeant Asou Hiroyoshi; 5th squad; 2nd platoon; Echo Company. I'm support to be a replacement rifleman for his assault team."

"Yeah, 5th squad would be the ones making themselves at home over there," pointed Lt. Hashigawa.

"Arigato, sir."

Hitsayo walked over to a large man with think black frame glasses who was reading a book with the title 'NATO Recognition Guide to Warsaw Pack Equipment and Uniforms: Japanese Edition.'

"Ano… is this 5th squad?"

"Hai," said Hanai not looking up.

"Are you in charge of the assault team?"

"Iē, the woman over there is," said Hanai pointing over to Ikuro.

"Arigato corporal," said Hitsayo.

"May I help you?" asked Ikuro when she realized that a young man with short black hair was standing nervously at attention next to her.

"I'm your new rifleman, ma'am," said Hitsayo handing her a slip of paper with a transfer notice.

"I see… well welcome to 5th squad. It's not heaven, but it's not hell... sort of."

* * *

Well, I hope ya'll like that chapter. I wanted to shed some light on the soldiers' lives outside of the battlefield and to show give some background on the soldiers who have no bio. 

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. The F-15G is a fictional variation of the F-15 series. It's basically, in my story at least, an upgraded plane.

2. Puget Sound Naval Shipyard is a real US Navy facility located across the inland sea from Seattle, Washington. It is one of the places where our navy's warships are built. It also houses some of the last of our battleships (not that they are service) and houses a large submarine pen.

3. It would only be about half an hour after the last title card. It would be 11:30 am, July 26th, 2010 in Japan because they are on different sides of the International Date Line.

4. The quote above is a rough quote from 34th President Dwight David Eisenhower's farewell address. As the former commander of Allied Forces in Europe during the Second World War, Eisenhower knew better than most people what waging a full scale conventional war cost. As a result he favored covert warfare and using the threat of nuclear weapons to keep the military budget down.

5. Operation: Desert Storm was the operation led by General Norman Schwarzkopf in early 1991. It comprised of Operation: Desert Shield which was meant to stop Iraqi attacks on Saudi Arabia and Operation: Desert Saber which was to drive out Iraqi troops from Kuwait.

6. Ichiro Suzuki is the left-fielder for the Seattle Mariners, #51.


	27. Chapter 27: Grenadier von Vatarland

Another chapter and back to the battlefield. 5th squad is now heading off to fight the People's Liberation Army. I don't have much else to say. I don't own School Rumble, Bleach, or Full Metal Panic.

* * *

**Chapter 27: Grenadiers von Vatarland (Infantry of the Fatherland)**

"Sweat saves blood, blood saves lives, brains saves both."

Field Marshall Erwin Rommel, commander of the Afrika Korp

**0500 Hours; July 27****th****, 2010; Gin Omizu Hotel; Shinomoseki; Japan**

Harima was reading the 'NATO Recognition Guide to Warsaw Pack Equipment and Uniforms'.

'The Red Army uniform is normally a brownish-green and made of khaki. It has a helmet that is made of steel and on first sight looks similar looks like the US Navy helmet, but does no jut out to the side. The summer uniform has the brownish-green khaki tunic and matching khaki pants and either a helmet or a 'squarish' field cap. The Soviet winter uniform includes a long overcoat, often brown, that falls to the ankles and buttons to the side and includes a fur ushanka cap. The ushanka has three flaps, the front one with the red star insignia that can be lowered to protect ones eyes from snow or rain and the side flaps to cover the ears. Soviet uniforms normally have high collars that fasten around their necks, a distinctive means of recognizing them from German or American style uniforms.

A Soviet soldier's utility belt has a leather pistol hostler for a TT-33 or PMM, a bayonet, pockets for munitions, and a small satchel like bag. The modern Soviet soldier carriers either an AK-74m assault rifle, RPK light machine gun, PP-19 Bizon sub-machine gun, SVD Dragunov sniper rifle, or KS-23-1 shotgun.'

"Kenji I know you're reading, but if you want to eat before we get deployed you might get moving," said Hanai.

"Hai," said Harima putting the book down and following Hanai. "So what's the plan?"

"We're going down the street to the baseball stadium where we meet up with a group of chopper to take us over to where the German's 21st Panzergrendiers are."

They entered the dining room which was now a mess hall and ate quietly.

Soon they were walking out onto the playing field of a baseball stadium. In the field sat several SH-53E Super Stallions, each capable of carrying 55 soldiers, roughly an entire platoon plus extra. Nine Super Stallions, enough for all of the 26th battalion were going to airlift, but were waiting for the 26th to mount up.

"This is Beetle 1-5; we like to welcome you to our flight. We'd like to remind our passengers that this is a non-smoking flight and wish you a nice flight," joked the pilot from the cockpit.

The Super Stallions lifted up and gained speed as they flew towards the German positions on the northwestern parts of Shinomoseki. A group of Japanese AH-64A Apaches escorted them to their destination.

To avoid collisions with the skyscrapers, the choppers flew high which also gave everyone a clear view of entire city. Out at sea, they could see the US and Japanese warships. Smoke from fires. Fighter planes and fighter-bombers flying sorties. Artillery providing fire missions. The scenes of a city under siege.

"You okay?" Kurosaki asked Harima.

"Hai, just a little nervous. First time I was in a chopper it was shot down."

"We're flying over secure parts of the cities so we should be fine," said Asou.

"Damn, I kinda' miss riding in these things," said Yamako, after all he was originally trained to be a gunner on a CH-47J Chinook, until it was blown out of the sky on his first day, well actually his first hour, in Korea.

After a half-hour ride they were approaching an LZ. The gathered their gear and dismounted.

Major Daijin marched up to a man wearing a grey tunic and officer's cap. Harima noticed the uniform the German wore were a little different from the American or British uniform he'd seen the 'NATO Recognition Guides to NATO Equipment and Uniforms', but close. It had a low collar that fastened just below the neck. Two shirt pockets and the tunic that went past the waist and a utility belt that fastened above the waist.

"Sprechen sie Deutsche (you speak German)?" asked the man.

"Sorry, what?" asked Major Daijin in English.

"Ah, you speak English, eh? Well, I am Oberst (colonel) Dreimark, commander of the 21st Panzergrendier Regiment; 11th Panzer Brigade; 6th Panzer Division," said Colonel Dreimark holding out his hand for Major Daijin to shake.

"Major Daijin, commander of the 26th Infantry Battalion; 81st Heliborne/Armor Infantry Regiment; 14th Reserve Brigade; 6th Division. Where are my soldiers to be deployed?"

"You'll be transported to the front to where the 53rd Battalion is and tomorrow you'll help lead the way through the warehouse district and go to the docks to cut off PLA from their main supply yard."

The next thing Harima knew, he was being piled into German troop trucks with his squad. They bumped and rumbled along through the bombed out streets.

"Looks like the Germans had a hard time," said Hanai as he gazed at the destruction.

"Well the Chinese are a tough opponent," said Kitsumori with a nod.

A German Tiger attack chopper flew over heading back to the rear where it could rearm and refuel. Three more Tigers followed the first one. Luftwaffe EF-2000 Typhoons circled high above, hunting for PLAF (People's Liberation Air Force) planes.

They past Bundeswehr mortar and anti-air positions as they moved up to the front where they could hear the sounds of battle raging.

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**0730 Hours; July 27****th****, 2010; Yagami, Kanagawa Prefecture; Japan**

"Mai, I need to talk to you," said Itoko to the young Korean girl.

Mai look up from her breakfast, "Hai?"

Itoko sighed and started to speak without meeting Mai's eyes, "I can't sit back and watch the war any longer."

"You joining?"

"Sort of, I was in the special forces to pay for college and I can reenlist if I want," explained Itoko.

"I see… is that why you have all these guns?"

"Hai."

"And all that spy gear?"

"Hai."

"And demonstrate the kind of skills that would be used by the SAS or Navy SEALs?"

"Hai."

"That certainly explains a lot of things," said Mai thoughtfully. "So what happens to me?"

"I spoke with the Tsukamoto sisters and they agreed to take care of you," said Itoko taking a bit of toast.

"Yakumo-sempai and Tenma-sempai?"

"Hai. They love you and you seem fond of them."

"Mmm, Tenma-sempai is fun to be around and Yakumo-sempai is really nice… what about Onii-chan and Nii-san?"

"Oh, Kenji is use to looking for a place to sleep. He's stayed at the Tsukamoto's before when I locked him out of the apartment and I'm sure they won't leave him out in the cold," said Itoko with a small grin.

Mai went to school and listened to Watazaki-sensei lectures on the Dark Ages in Europe. After four periods of her morning classes she went to lunch.

"You're being moved where?" asked Sachiko.

"To the Tsukamoto sisters' place, you remember them?"

"Uh… the older one looks younger then the younger sister, right?"

"Hai, that's them."

"Well they seem nice people," said Sachiko with a smile.

"Hai… so, Sachi-chan are you still moving?" asked Mai worriedly.

"Iē, since our army is winning, my parents think it will be safe to stay in Japan, but they decided we should visit our relatives in America," groaned Sachiko.

"I'm sure it won't be that bad," reasoned Mai.

"Hai, but they're so boring… except for my cousin John. He's in the US Army and use to teach me martial arts… is that the bell?" asked Sachiko.

"I think so, lunch break is over," sighed Mai.

Hours later Mai was walking with Yakumo to the Tsukamoto residence. Mai began to unpack her things while Yakumo helped. Mai put up her map of the Far East, a poster with a picture of an F-15C, a few pictures of her family, some of Harima's drawing including the unit picture with her in the middle of the group, and a South Korean flag on the walls of the room. Yakumo placed Mai's clothes in a dresser. Mai placed a small a laptop computer that Itoko had given her for school work on a desk and then attached it to a small printer that Itoko had also given her for school work.

"Ano… Mai-chan, where do you want this?" asked Yakumo uncomfortably.

"Oh, I'll take that," said Mai nonchalantly taking the Beretta M9, which was in its holster, out of Yakumo's hands and placing it in her sock drawer.

"So… um… Kenji-sempai carries a gun like that too, ne?" asked Yakumo, wanting to know a little more about Harima life as a soldier.

"Iē, he carries a Colt M1911A1 .45 caliber semi-automatic, an older, but in most peoples' opinions a better sidearm then the current US sidearm 9x19mm Beretta M9."

"Oh… I see," said Yakumo, taken aback at the girl's military knowledge.

"Would you like to know a little more about Onii-chan in the military?" asked Mai, sensing what Yakumo really wanted.

"Onegai."

"Well, it was early morning in May when I first met them…" Mai started as she began to tell Yakumo about her experiences in Korea.

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**0700 Hours; July 28****th****, 2010; German front; Shinomoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture; Japan**

"Okay, listen up," shouted Captain Hitsugaya to the officers and NCOs of Echo Company. "We are going to push through the streets to the warehouse district. Most of these streets have too much rubble and wreckage for vehicles to maneuver through so we're going on foot. The battalion will be spread out in a line to sweep all resistance. We expect a slow advance and we do not expect to reach the docks today."

"Captain?" said 1st Lt. Matsumoto raising her hand; he nodded for her to continue. "What is the objective for the day?"

Hitsugaya frown and said, "Gain as much ground as possible."

"Support options?" asked 2nd Lt. Hashigawa.

"American and German artillery, our navy and the Americans, and plenty of air support. Unlike are push on the PKA HQ, we can get plenty of support, the problem is that the PLA has the Triple A threats to counter our air support."

An hour later Echo Company was moving forward with a German company along a bombed out street with heaps of stone and metal littering it. The Germans were dressed in a grey digital camouflage and carrying H&K G-36E assault rifles, H&K MP-5 sub-machine guns, a few with the H&K G-3 assault rifles, and H&K HK21 light machine guns. Captain Hitsugaya held his hand up to signal the company to halt.

"Captain?" said Matsumoto as she walked hunched over to him. "Nani?"

"Enemy MG emplacement," said Hitsugaya pointing to a building up ahead with most of its second story gone. Matsumoto carefully studied the building and noticed that there was a Chinese soldier grouching low to avoid being spotted.

"They'll notice we suspect something," said Matsumoto.

"Just wait," said Hitsugaya, he turned and gave a few hand signals to Hauptmann (captain) Zimmerman who nodded and signaled to his soldiers. A sniper in a ghillie suit (1) armed with a G-82 (2), which also covered in burlap to further conceal him, took aim. He fired one shoot that echoed down the street that penetrated the wall the PLA machine gunner was hiding behind.

"Auf wiedersehen (good-bye; in German)," mutter the sniper before slipping out of sight.

"Fire!" shouted a man in Chinese somewhere ahead. Suddenly the street ahead was alive with gunshots.

"Fire! Schnell! (Fire! Hurry!)."

"Open fire!"

Harima released the safety on his new M-14E3 and fire single shots at the muzzle flashes of Chinese Type 95 bull pump assault rifles and QBB95 light machine guns. It was intense; the Chinese were smart enough to avoid exposing themselves and were using prepared defenses.

"Requesting fire mission on position Alpha 92, Nevada 10," said Kaoji into his radio.

"This is Yankee 8, mortars inbound, stand by," said an American in response to Kaoji's request for support.

A screaming/moaning noise signaled the descent of 81mm mortar shells from US M252 mortars as they rained down on the Chinese positions. The amount of incoming fire had decreased some, but it was still coming in hard and heavy.

"Strike was moderately affective Yankee 8, need heavy firepower," said Kaoji.

"Rodger that… stand by."

A much louder rain of mortars was raining down on the PLA lines; US M120s were bombarding the PLA soldiers with 120mm mortar shells. The 120s silenced the Chinese allowing Echo Company started to advance.

**Bang!**

A soldier in 1st platoon dropped dead from a shot to the head.

"Sniper! Take cover!"

**Bang!**

"Alles ist klar (all is clear; in German)," said the German sniper from his hiden position, but neither Asou, Harima, or anyone knew where he was. Cautiously, Captain Hitsygaya led his soldiers forward on one side on the narrow street with the Germans moving up on the other side.

"In coming!"

'Fuck,' Hitsugaya thought to himself as he screamed for his company to take cover. Chinese Type 87 82mm mortars were now pounding the advancing NATO forces. 'No where to flank around… fuck we'll have to wait for the barrage to lift.'

As the mortar barrage began to move further down the street behind the NATO column, Hitsugaya and Zimmerman seized the opportunity to surge forwards. As they continued up the street they saw an empty lot where the Chinese had their mortars set up along with two Type 85 23mm AA guns.

"It would make our day easy to destroy those mortars," said Hauptmann Zimmerman to Captain Hitsugaya in English with a heavy German accent.

"Yes, it would," agreed Hitsugaya, also speaking in English, but with a strong Japanese accent. "I'll flank, if you can cover us."

"No problem," said Zimmerman and then turning to face his soldiers. "Los, los! Aufstellen maschinengewehr drueben (Move, move! Set of the machine gun over there!)!"

The Germans set up two MG3 machine guns (3) on tripods behind a pile of rubble.

"Fire (fire; in German)!" ordered a German oberleutnant (1st lieutenant).

Meanwhile, 1st Lt. Matsumoto was sneaking through the tall grass the lined the edges of lot. She was keeping low and moving quietly to avoid detection. Once she and her platoon were spread out and had good firing positions he signaled them to open fire.

The Chinese who were already shooting at the Germans quickly returned fire on Matsumoto. Lt. Hashigawa was moving up along the street with 2nd platoon ducking and diving around a low brick wall. 2nd Lt. Omowaku, 3rd platoon leader, was right behind Hashigawa.

The Chinese had virtually no cover with the exception of a few shallow foxholes for the Type 87 mortars and a small stack of 2x4 floor boards.

"Hold your fire!" shouted Hitsugaya. He noticed that the Chinese were no longer returning fire; however, he was a little more than suspicious after the previous incident. A German squad slowly moved forward keeping low and began to check to see if the Chinese were really dead. A German stabsfeldwebel (sergeant major) who was leading the squad that was searching the PLA mortar positions signaled that all was clear. They removed the firing pins from the mortars and AA guns to ensure they could not be used.

"Company, fall in!" shout Zimmerman.

They were back to moving up the street.

"5 hours and we've only advanced 2km," groaned Harima.

"PLA does seem determine to stop us," said Kitsumori.

As if on queue, a machine gun opened up ahead and they sought cover immediately. Harima raised his M-14E3 and fired a 3-round burst. Harima liked his new gun, but he was having problems with adjusting for the larger recoil from the larger caliber gun.

He saw the gunner keel over, dead. A clink caused Harima look to his left and he saw a hand grenade had landed next to him. Harima didn't stop to think, he grabbed it and threw it a far as he could. The grenade burst in mid air, but a chunk of it hit Harima in the side of his belly.

"Argg, shit," cursed Harima as he clutched at the wound. He aimed his rifle and emptied his clip at where he saw muzzle flashes from Chinese guns.

"Kenji, your bleeding," said Hanai as he loaded a fresh clip in his Type 87 assault rifle.

"I know."

"Maybe you should have it checked out."

"Yeah, well… we're a little busy and it's not like we have a medic with us," said Harima as he took aim at a Chinese soldier with a QBB95 light machine gun.

"We have a Kurosaki, he's close enough," said Kitsumori as he loaded a fresh belt magazine into his FN Minimi.

"I think he's busy," said Jupei pointing to Kurosaki who was currently pinned down by PLA riflemen.

"Kenji, just blow them out with a rocket," ordered Hanai.

"Hai, just cover me," said Harima as he slung his rifle over his shoulder and unslung his AT4 from his shoulder. Jupei moved out of the way so she wouldn't get burnt by the back-blast (4) of the rocket launcher. Harima fired at the Chinese machine gunners and riflemen who were on the second floor catwalk of a warehouse. The entire catwalk collapse when the 84mm rocket hit it and sent a squad to fall to their deaths.

The beat of multiple choppers echoed across the street as three Chinese Z-8s (5) flew over their heads and flew a few blocks behind the Chinese lines. Ropes appear as the Z-8 transport choppers dropped a platoon each before bugging out.

"Shit, they just dropped reinforcements," yelled someone in 3rd squad.

"Kaoji! Get air support and take them out!" shout Asou.

"Hai," said Kaoji as he twirled a dial. "This is Echo 5-3, we're pinned down by Chinese machine gun and rifle fire, and they just airlifted a company in front of us. Request air support, over."

"Roger, this is Jackal 2-1, cluster bombs inbound."

Four USAF F-15E Strike Eagles flew over dropping a bunch of CBU-87 cluster bombs that burst open and scattered hundreds of bomblits. A few warehouses collapsed in the wake of the bombing run.

"1st platoon forward. 2nd platoon and 3rd platoon follow," shouted Captain Hitsugaya.

6 hours and they had only advanced 2.5km.

* * *

I would like to be said that the People's Liberation Army of China is not a rabble of conscripts like the People's (North) Korean Army. Its big, its heavily armed, and deadly. Though they PKA isn't exactly a push over either. If you're wondering how many chapters this story is, you're not alone. I'm wondering the same thing, but it is far from done. I'm rapidly approaching 30 chapters and 100,000 words and I already know it won't end at either one of those points. 

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. The ghillie suit was the creation of Scottish hunters to conceal themselves from their prey. During World War I, the British Royal Army was losing hundreds of soldiers to German snipers. The British hired the Scotsmen to serve as snipers in the British military. The ghillie suits they wore were strips of burlap attached to netting. Burlap blended in well with the European terrain and the netting allowed for additional foliage to better adapt the suit for different environments. A modern ghillie suit is insulated so it doubles as a raincoat, but mostly remains unchanged and those Scotsmen are considered to be the founders of the modern art of snipers, along with the American frontiersmen of the Revolutionary War.

2. The G-82 is the Heer's military designation for the Barett M-82 and M-82A1A.

3. The Rheinmetall MG3 is a general purpose machine gun that fills a similar role the M60 machine gun served in the US military. It's basically identical to the old MG42 the Germans used during World War II. It can be mounted on tanks, vehicles, and mounted on transport helicopters. It is belt fed and has a bipod, but can be mounted on a tripod that. Its main difference from its predecessor the MG42 is that it fires the NATO 7.62x51mm cartridge.

4. Any rocket or missile launcher has a back-blast. It's sort of like exhaust, but hell of a lot more dangerous. As the rocket or missile is ignited and starts to launch a large amount of heat is released out of the rear. If you're dumb enough to be standing there it will probably burn your skin off, in the case of a missile like a Tomahawk cruise missile it will deafen and burn you.

5. The Z-8 is a transport helicopter that is actually named the SA-321 Super Frelon. The Super Frelon is made by a French company called Aerospatiale, but the Chinese company Changhe obtained licensing rights to build the Super Frelon, however in the PLA it is known as the Z-8. It can carry about 30 soldiers or 5,000kg (11,023lb) and has a crew of 3. It has a door on each side right behind the cockpit and a rear ramp like the US SH-53E Super Stallion. It can has 4 hardpoints for either torpedoes, rocket pods, or guided missiles and I believe it has gunners next to the doors like most utility/transport choppers.


	28. Chapter 28: Step by Step

Well, I kinda' excited because this chapter should put me over 100,000 words, cool. I just did my Christmas shopping. Since I doubt anyone in my family is reading this I guess it's safe to tell ya'll that I got my sister a teddy bear, my dad a Staples gift card (trust me he'll love it), and I ordered my mom a copy of the movie The Terminal. As for me, I'm hoping for a copy of Bourne Ultimatum... and a girlfriend… and a new President. –Sigh-, one more year of Bush. Anyways… hope ya'll have a nice Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or Christhanukkwazaa.

**Consider this chapter my Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa present to ya'll. As a favor, as a holiday gift could you guys give me a review?** Please? It's the holidays. You don't have to be a member of you could leave an anonymous review too.

I don't own School Rumble, Bleach, or Full Metal Panic. Please review and maybe tell a friend.

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**Chapter 28: Step by Step**

"I love the smell of napalm in the mornin'."

A quote from the famous war movie Apocalypse Now

**0700 Hours; July 29****th****, 2010; German-Japanese front; Shinomoseki, Japan**

Echo Company and the German company, Fury Company, had spent of the previous day fighting for every step they took. They had managed to break out of the narrow street to one that was accessible to vehicles and armor. Two German Marder 1A3 IFVs equipped with a Milan TOW missile had joined them and a Gepard with the FIM-92 Stinger SAM upgrade (1).

Currently, they were eating breakfast, courtesy of the Heer (German Army). It consisted of sausage, ham, toast, and powdered eggs. It wasn't much, but a nice change from usual rice, ramen, and cheap breakfast meats. Harima, Kitsumori, Kurosaki, and Abarai were eating with enthusiasm, but they seemed to eat anything they could that way, especially Harima and Kitsumori.

"Why'd they send an AA-vehicle?" asked Reimaru.

"Don't know," answered his team leader, Shimazu.

"I heard the Captain say something about Chinese attack choppers being seen in the area," said Abarai.

"What is the PLA's attack chopper?" asked Ishida.

"Hang on a sec'," said Harima as he reached for his 'NATO Recognition Guide to People's Liberation Army, Navy, and Air Force Equipment and Uniforms'. He flipped through the pages until he reached helicopters and read, "The Changhe Z-9W is a medium attack helicopter used commonly used for special forces operations... no that's not it, uh… oh wait, the Changhe Z-10 is the principle attack chopper of the Chinese armed forces. It is highly similar to the South African AH-2A Rooivalk or German/French AS-665 Tiger (or Tigre) in both its appearance and purpose. (2) Information on this chopper is sketchy at the least, but it has a either a single barrel 35mm auto-cannon or three barrel 35mm gatling gun. It also features four hardpoints for guided missiles, rocket pods, auto-cannon or gatling gun pod, or even air to air missiles like any attack chopper of its class (i.e. AH-64 Apache, AH-1 Cobra, Mi-28 Havoc, or AS-665 Tiger)."

"Mmm… that doesn't sound good," said Ikuro with her mouth half full of toast.

A roaring whistling noise signaled the approach on in coming fire.

"In coming!"

"Take cover!"

"Los, schnell (move, hurry; in German)!"

Type 89 100mm mortars were shelling them from somewhere ahead.

"Captain!" shouted Lt. Matsumoto, "They must be preparing for a counter-attack!"

"Shit," Captain Hitsugaya muttered to himself. "Tell your platoon to get to positions on the left flank. I'll get the other platoons to hold the center and right."

"Hai, Captain," said Lt. Matsumoto as she ran off to get 1st platoon to a stone storage building that made up their left flank.

Asou found himself setting up on the center with 2nd platoon. Standing behind him was one of the two Marders; the other one was on the right flank with 3rd platoon. The Gepard was in the rear where it had the best view of the skies over the surrounding area.

A few mortar shells landed in a block ahead, but instead of exploding, they smashed into the ground and started to billow large clouds of smoke.

"Dammit, they're laying a smoke screen," cursed Lt. Hashigawa.

"I can see the silhouettes of Chinese infantry," whispered Ishida as he scanned the horizon through the scope of his M-21 semi-auto sniper rifle. Everyone was either in the prone position or grouching down to keep low make themselves hard targets and to make aiming easier.

"2nd platoon hold your fire until I give the order," said Lt. Hashigawa to his platoon via the headsets.

"Rodger that, sir," replied the members of 2nd platoon.

The Germans had set up two MG3s on the second floor of a bombed out building that over looked the center flank. Although no one knew where, the German sniper and his spotter were also setting up somewhere on the center flank.

As Chinese soldiers armed with Type 85 sub-machine guns and Type 95 assault rifles moved out of the smoke and into the open, Lt. Hashigawa ordered, "A word to all units, lets kill us some commies."

The first wave of PLA soldiers were torn apart by the sudden volley of NATO bullets. A second wave came through the smoke and suffered a similar fate to the first. The third wave came charging through the smoke with their guns blazing. The Marder 1A3 wielding its 20mm auto-cannon and 7.62x51mm machine gun started to cut down the PLA soldiers that sought cover.

"Is that it?" asked Harima when there was a pause in the attacks.

"Iē… they're probably regrouping," said Asou darkly. "Kaoji, see if you can get some support for when they do attack."

"Hai."

After about half an hour they heard the sound of vehicle motors.

"Tanks? Or APCs?" asked Abarai.

"It doesn't sound like tanks… the noise isn't loud enough or heavy enough and there's no creaking noise from tracks," said Yamako. "Probably an APC, and one with wheels."

A ZSL-92 wheeled IFV rolled around a corner and advanced down the street, its 25mm auto-cannon firing away. It ripped through a few Japanese and German soldiers, but an AT rocket from the Marder destroyed the ZSL-92. An AT rocket from a Chinese PP89 fired by a PLA soldier smashed into the M60E1 machine gun the Japanese made set up. Seemingly out of nowhere, a single shot took out that same PLA soldier with the PP89. A load voice said in German, "Target down."

"More APCs inbound!" shouted someone.

"Kaoji!" shouted Asou.

"On it!" responded Kaoji. "This is Echo 5-3, requesting fire support, over."

"This is Yankee 6, artillery is on the way."

Somewhere far away, 5th squad could faintly hear the muzzle blasts of several US M119 105mm field guns. The 105s hounded the advancing PLA soldiers and supporting APCs and IFVs.

"They're falling back again," said Shimazu as he loaded a fresh clip into his Colt M4A1 carbine.

"I'd be very surprised if that was it," said Lt. Hashigawa as he moved down the line checking on his platoon. "The Captain thinks they'll mount one last attack."

"Lieutenant, how's the rest of the line holding?" asked Asou.

"They've taken some losses, but they're holding out fine."

"Feind hubschrauber en radar (enemy helicopters on radar)," said the one of the crewmen of the Gepard over the radio.

Three W-10 attack choppers flew low over the warehouses and heaps of rubble. Once they detected radar locks from the Gepard they scattered and took evasive action. A stream of red tracer rounds zoomed through the skies at the W-10s who sent streams of green tracers at the Japanese and German soldiers. The Gepard fired a Stinger missile, but the W-10s dropped counter-measure flares which sent the missile off course. However, a second missile nailed one of the Z-10s and caused it to explode in mid-air.

"Shit, the ground's shaking!" yelled Abarai.

"Oh, fuck, they must be sending in tanks," groaned Hanai remembering this feeling when he was in Korea.

Harima pulled out and prepped his AT4 for the PLA armor. The Z-10s were firing away until one of the surviving two took a hit to the waist. As the chopper pilot notice he was having trouble maintaining control of his aircraft he decided to bug out, his wingman following suit.

"Choppers are leavin'," said Hitsayo with a note of relief.

"Hai, but there are four Type 80s (3) coming are way," said an indignant Harima pointing at the squad of Chinese medium tanks. One of the tanks took a hit to its track from the Marder's Milan AT missile, however, the Marder was blown up by a 105mm shell from one of the other Type 80s.

"Great," said Ikuro sarcastically, "there goes our armor."

"Harima, try and finish off that disabled tank!" ordered Asou. Harima fired a sabot rocket at the Type 80 the Marder had damaged. The rocked hit it and managed to destroy its main gun. The tank itself was in tacked, but useless since it couldn't move or shoot.

"Yankee 6, we need more arty on the coordinates in front of us! … Yankee 6 come in… Yankee 6 are you there?! Staff Sergeant Asou, I can't reach Yankee 6," said an alarmed Kaoji to which Asou cursed under his breath.

**Pow!**

A 105mm shell exploded right behind them, but other than the effects of shellshock, it caused no damage.

"I'm starting to think they don't like us," said Abarai to Kurosaki, which netted him a small chuckle from Kurosaki.

"More infantry incoming!" shouted Kitsumori.

"Aww, we our so screwed," said Jupei as a Type 80 turned to face 5th squad. Asou pointed his Type 89 assault rifle and fired a single shot.

**Boom!**

At first Asou thought he'd destroyed that tank and he looked down at his rifle. Then he realized that a shell had zoomed over 2nd platoon and smashed into one of the Type 80s. Everyone looked behind themselves and saw eight German Leopard 2A6 heavy tanks rolling up the street, coaxial and AA machine guns blazing. The PLA Type 80s, seeing they were out numbered and out gunned, decided to withdraw. They fired off their smoke dischargers and sent smoke grenades into the air to cover their retreat.

"Looks like we win," said Asou.

"Now what?" asked Hanai.

"It's our turn to attack… I think."

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**1100 Hours; July 29****th****, 2010; northwestern ports, Shinomoseki, Japan**

RAF (Royal Air Force; UK) SA-332 Super Pumas were dropping a company of British paratroopers.

"Mornin' chaps," said a British Captain shaking hands with Captain Hitsugaya and Hauptmann Zimmerman, "Captain Erickson, Drake Company; 2nd Airborne Infantry Battalion; 1st Royal Airborne Brigade; 1st Airborne Division, at your service."

"Thanks, but why are the British being deployed here? I thought you all were deployed in Kitakyushu? We were only told we'd get additional forces, but we were expecting our own armies to come," inquired Zimmerman.

"Not sure myself really," admitted Captain Erickson, "Our battalion was only told to deploy along the German-Japanese front."

"Our commanders must want to take Shinomoseki faster," said Captain Hitsugaya darkly.

"Probably… so what's the plan… or for that matter who's in changer here?" asked Captain Erickson.

"Herr (sir/mr.) Major Heinrich is in charge right now, our orders are to advance with Grille (cricket) Company's tanks, while my company and Ịnnung (guild) Company joined their advance. Hauptmann Hitsugaya's Echo Company will be clearing out the docks while we cover them," explained Hauptmann Zimmerman to Captain Erickson who was joined by his second in command 1st Lt. Chapel.

5th squad watched this exchange while they ate an early lunch. They noted with vague curiosity, mostly born out of boredom, that the British uniform were the same style as the Americans, but had a slightly different color, more of a greenish-tan digital camouflage uniforms then olive drab. They also were red berets with a golden Royal Army Airborne insignia on their heads, though some soldiers chose to wear their helmets of the berets. Like the Japanese, the British carried the FN Minimi as a light machine gun and the MP-5 as their sub-machine gun. Unlike the Japanese the British used the L9A1, a handgun that looked like the Colt .45, but it was made in Belgium and fired the 9x19mm cartridge. They used as their main rifle the L85A2, some of which had a grenade launcher that none of the Japanese were familiar with (4).

"What do we have in the way support options?" asked 1st Lt. Chapel.

"A US artillery regiment is providing most of our support. Their callsign is Yankee: Yankee 5 has the M777 155mm howitzers, Yankee 6 has the M119 105mm field guns, Yankee 7 has MLRSs, but we haven't benn able to reach them, and Yankee 8 has the mortars. The Japanese 2nd Escort Fleet is off shore and a detachment of the US 7th Fleet is also in the area, but they've been pretty busy else where. Various US and Japanese planes are in the area, but this sector is mostly covered by the Luftwaffe," said Hauptmann Zimmerman. "We're leaving as soon as you company is ready to go."

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**1200 Hours; July 29****th****, 2010; northwestern ports, Shinomoseki, Japan**

Grille Company's Leopards and Marders were leading the way to the docks. Infantry were either riding inside the IFVs or riding on top of the armor. Gepards were spread out around the column to defend the battalion from air attacks. Two British WAH-64D Apaches (5) were hovering protectively over head.

5th squad was riding on the top of a Leopard 2A6. Once they pulled out onto the docks the armor spread out and halted to allow the infantry to dismount. Ishida started to scan the cargo cranes and floodlight towers for snipers (6). The tanks slowly rolled forwards with the infantry keeping low behind them.

As they reached the first pier the Germans set up a perimeter while 1st platoon of Echo Company began to check out the shipping containers and a small warehouse that sat on it. Hanai gazed out at the sea and could see the 2nd Escort Fleet several kilometers off shore and the hulls of a few overturned PLN warships.

"You think it's a little quiet?" asked Abarai.

"Hai… but why?" asked Asou.

Lt. Hashigawa walked by and Asou stopped him. "Sir, do you think this is a trap?"

"Iē," he sighed, "they British chopper pilots say the area has been deserted. It seems the Chinese were expecting us and clear out there supplies before we could get here."

"This is Piper 1-1, I see incoming PLA 20+ vehicles with at least 12 tanks. 50+ infantry on the ground," said one of the two chopper pilots over the radio.

"What did they say?" asked Asou.

"They're counter-attacking again," said Hashigawa dryly.

Asou ran signaling his squad to follow. 5th squad ran to set up behind roadside concrete barriers.

A Chinese Type 96 heavy tank with two Type 62 light tanks rolled around a warehouse. The Type 96 fired a 125mm shell at a German squad, which vanished in the explosion. It received two shots from the German Leopards. The Type 62s found themselves under attack by the two WAH-64s. To their right, Asou saw Drake Company moving towards a warehouse.

"Lt. Hashigawa, where are they going?" Asou asked into the radio.

"They gonna' try and hit the enemies left flank."

"More armor!" shouted Jupei a squad of Type 96s rolled around the corner with a company of infantry.

The Chinese surged forwards using their tanks as a shield as they advanced towards the NATO battalion. A roar signaled the approach of planes, but they weren't NATO aircraft.

"Shit, Fantan's!"

"How'd they get past our planes?!"

The squadron Q-5 Fantans flew over dropping bombs and flew off heading towards Korea in a classic hit-and-run tactic. In the wake they'd left several wounded soldiers and destroyed tanks. One of the Apaches took a hit from ZSL-92 25mm auto-cannon.

"This is Piper 1-2, I'm going down. I repeat I'm going…" static.

"Piper 1-2, come in," demanded a frantic Piper 1-1.

"-cough-, arggg, I'm here, gunner is still alive, I think he arm's sprained… uhgg… I'm in need of assistance… bloody hell, I need a medic."

Asou, didn't understand English that well, but he did under the words 'still alive' and 'I'm in need of assistance'. "This is Echo 5-1, request permission to secure the crash sight, over."

"… this is Echo Leader, go ahead 5-1," said Captain Hitsugaya.

5th squad ran across the asphalt area towards the warehouses. They ran down alley between the warehouses. Asou rounded a corner and collided with a man.

"Gomen… oh shit." Asou had crashed into a Chinese squad leader and he only had enough time to roll over back around the corner as a hail bullets raked the spot where he just was. Asou tossed a grenade around the corner, waited for it to go off, and then emptied his rifle on the Chinese squad. They ran past the slaughter squad and kept going as fast as they could run.

Asou as he rounded a corner crashed into another person.

"Jesus Christ, watch where you're running," shouted a British lieutenant that Asou just crashed into.

"Sorri, I whach where I go," apologized Asou in broken English.

They reached the end of an alley and saw the WAH-64. It had crashed into a warehouse and taken out a good chuck of it.

Asou moved forwards towards the cockpit. The co-pilot was crouching outside of the chopper; she was clutching her arm with one hand and holding a Browning L9A1 handgun in her other. When she caught sight of the approaching Japanese squad she slumped down; clearly in pain. The pilot was bleeding in his seat in the cockpit.

"Okay, squad cover the area. Assault team, see if you can get the pilot out of his seat," ordered Asou.

Kurosaki climbed onto the chopper and he and Abarai started to lift the battered pilot. The pilot groaned as he was moved and set on the ground.

"Thanks mate," said the pilot as he was placed on the ground. Kurosaki pulled out a medical kit that was cockpit and began to stem the bleeding. Once he was done with that, he checked the gunner's arm.

"Uh… sir, do we have stretchers?" asked Kurosaki.

"…. Knew I forgot something," muttered Asou, mostly to himself.

"You know," started Yamako thoughtfully, "I remember that a transport chopper is usually equipped with two or so stretchers."

"Great, you know those guide books should tell us if they have 'em," said Asou. "So… who's been reading the NATO handbook a lot?"

Everyone turned to face Harima. "Nani? Hey, it's not like there are a lot of things to read around and guy can only read his own manga so much," he said defensively. "Their great sources of ideas for a magna."

"Well?" they all asked in unison.

"Uh… let me think."

"Great, the war will be over before we know," groaned Hanai.

"SHUT UP YOU BASTARD! … uh, iē, attack choppers don't normally carry one… unless it's a special forces chopper, in which case they might."

"Oi, guys," said Abarai pointing to a door that was propped against a wall, "you think this will work?"

"I guess it'll have to. Hanai, Harima, put the pilot on it and well carry him back to an EZ (extraction zone)," said Asou.

"Hai."

Hanai and Harima carried the pilot on the door while Kitsumori helped the gunner walk. They could hear shooting and explosions up ahead. A stream of tracers zoomed through the air, probably from the Gepard. They could hear the beat of a chopper; fortunately it was send of a NATO chopper engine. A Japanese SH-60J Sea Hawk soared over head, the gunner firing his mini gun.

"This is Echo 5-1; I have a wounded British pilot and WSO (weapons system officer). Can you medivac (medical evacuation)?" asked Asou, speaking into his headset.

"Hai, where are you?" responded the pilot.

"Right below you."

"I can't land in that alley… there's small railroad yard ahead. There's plenty of open space, it's about 150m ahead of you, over."

"Hai, we're on our way."

5th squad moved hurriedly towards the rail yard. It had a bunch of abandoned freight cars and one abandoned switcher engine (7). There was also a delivery truck with its doors left open as though the owners had ran for their lives and left it there when the invasion started, which was a strong likely hood.

The Sea Hawk hovered over head and began to descend onto the parking lot that ran parallel to the tracks. A flight crew jumped off the chopper carrying a stretcher and transferred the pilot from the makeshift one to the real one. 5th squad watched the Sea Hawk head out for one of the NATO hospital ships off shore somewhere in the NATO fleet.

"Attention all Echo callsigns, this is Echo leader. Area is secure. PLA is in retreat and appears to be regrouping for a last stand at their HQ. Good work people, Echo leader out."

"Okay, guys," said Asou, "lets find a place to drop our gear and sleep for the night."

They settled in a warehouse. They went about their usual pastimes: Asou was learning English out of a book, Kaoji was learning German out a book, Kurosaki was reading his medical journal, Abarai and Hanai practiced martial arts separately, and so on.

Kitsumori was cleaning his FN Minimi LMG. Ikuro was reading Harima's latest chapter for his manga. While Ikuro curiously read Harima's work, Harima continued reading the books that NATO had given them. He found them mildly interesting and a great source of inspiration for his manga.

'The US John F. Kennedy Class aircraft carriers after they were decommissioned in the summer of 2008 were going to be broken down for scrap when they bought by Germany and Greece. The USS Kitty Hawk was purchased by Hellenic (Greek) Navy; now named the Adrianopol. The USS Constellation and USS John F. Kennedy were purchased by the Kreigsmarine (German Navy) and were renamed the Schumacher and Prussia respectfully. Germany even designed a special variation of the EF-2000 Typhoon and Tornado IDS. Meer Typhoon, Meer being German word for sea, can be attached to a catapult and has the tail hook for a tow cable to stop the plane from going off the carrier deck and has folding wings for storage. The Meer Tornado is a carrier launched version of the Tornado which is also modified to be attached to a catapult, hook, and folding wings.'

Harima flipped through the pages to if Japan had a carrier. He found a computer generated image of a warship that looked just like a US carrier class, but larger and had a white flag with a red circle on it with red beams coming from the circle (8).

'CVN-01 Sutsuru Class aircraft carrier. First proposed by the Japanese Ministry of Defense in the spring of 2009, but was not started until the early summer of 2010; date of completion is expected to be late August. It features four steam pressure powered hydraulic catapults, two facing forwards and the other two angled off slightly. Its top speed is currently unavailable, but likely to be between 30-33 knots. It is designed to hold over 80 fixed-wing aircraft; F-14D Super Tomcats as interceptors and air supremacy fighters. F-18E Super Hornets have been bought as strike fighters and additional air supremacy fighters. E-2 Hawkeyes as an AWACS. F-4J Phantoms are being built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for additional anti-ship support.'

'When did this happen?" wondered Harima. 'And how the hell did they have this so up to date?… hey for my next chapter I could put my characters in big feudal age navel battle with all the boarding parties and shit… that would be so awesome.'

Harima put down the book. He looked out at the sky and saw the sun starting to set.

"Sure is nice," said Hanai taking a seat next to Harima.

"Hai, reminds me of our 3rd year Sports Festival," said Harima.

"Was that the one where Sawachika-san shaved you bold early that week?"

"Iē, that was 2nd year. 3rd year was the one where you and I got into the huge ass fight and… well you remember," said Harima with a nerves chuckle.

Hanai gave an equally nerves chuckle, "Hai, we burned down the gym."

"What were we thinking?" said Harima with another laugh.

"What were we fighting about?" asked Hanai thoughtfully.

"I don't know," said Harima trying to remember. "Probably one of those misunderstandings that always seem to happen to us… remember the 2nd year Culture Festival?"

"Who could forget, that big ass shootout we had… what were you thinking when you shot yourself?"

"Me? What was with you freaking out? It was a fucking B-B, you acted like I shot myself for real."

"Why'd we go through that whole thing always?"

"Mmm… I remember Takano-san saying something about if we do the café I would… uh… something to do Tenma-san…"

"Really? I remember Takano-san saying something about if we did the play… ugg… it was too long ago, but I know it had to do with Yakumo."

After a few minutes of silence their eyes widened as dawning comprehension finally came to them after nearly two years.

"She…" said Harima in a shaky voice.

"Tricked us…" continued Hanai in the same tone.

"For her own amusement," finished Asou for them as he walked towards them shaking his head. "I can't believe it took you two this long to figure it out."

Silence.

"THAT BITCH!" screamed Harima and Hanai in unison. Miles away on SCVN-01 USS Tuatha de Danaan, Takano Akira sneezed.

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Well, I hope ya'll enjoyed that chapter. I tried to inject some humor in my story. Real soldiers use humor to keep their spirits up, how else would they get by in life or any of us for that matter. I think this was a good chapter and reflects the differences between fighting the People's (North) Korean Army and People's Liberation Army (of China).

Respectfully and with holiday well wishes

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. The Gepard is the primary anti-air vehicle of the Heer (Germany Army). It has the same chassis as the Leopard tanks. It has two 35mm auto-cannons, one on each side of the turret. An upgrade is available for the Gepard that adds twin FIM-92 Stinger surface to air missile launchers to the 35mm auto-cannon; one twin launcher to each gun.

2. Information on the Changhe Z-10 is limited. From what I gather it is not yet in service with the People's Liberation Army, Navy, or Air Force. It seems to be heavily based on the Tiger, Mangusta, and Rooivalk and has some influences from the AH-1 Huey Cobra and AH-64 Apache. Anything else I said about I made up based on the pictures available of the Z-10.

3. The Type 80s are one of the main tanks of the People's Liberation Army. It has a crew of 4: one driver, gunner, loader for main gun, and commander. It ways about 38,000kg, has a 105mm main gun, Soviet 7.62x54mm or Soviet 7.62x39mm coaxial gun (which is the machine gun next to the main gun), and a Soviet 12.7x108mm AA machine gun (which is the machine gun mounted on the hatch for the tank commander's use). The Type 80 is made famous for its roll in Tiananmen Square for literally running over the protestors.

4. The L17A1, or as it is known by its German creator Heckler & Koch the AG36, is a 40mm grenade launcher that is made for the Enfield L85A2 and in small numbers the L117A1, a Canadian carbine heavily based on the Colt M4A1. Anyways, the L17A1 is made usual by the fact that it is loaded by turning the L17A1 (or AG36) to the side to expose the chamber as appose to the Russian muzzle loader the GP-30 or the American M203 which is loaded by sliding the launcher forward. The AG36 is used by the German and Dutch Armies on the H&K G-36 assault rifle.

5. The WAH-64 Apache is the British designation for the American AH-64 Apache. It's the same chopper, but used by the British and the WAH-64 Apache unlike the AH-64 is made for navel use as well as tank busting runs like its American counter-part.

6. High places are obvious sniper positions such as church towers, clock towers, and cargo or construction cranes. Trees are not such appealing hiding places because they are usually hard to get down from if you're spotted in one and they provide no protection. Something like a clock tower would provide good cover from small arms and probably an escape route.

7. A switcher engine is a small locomotive that is used on small railway lines and move passenger or freight cars to larger yards where larger locomotives can take transport them over longer distances. See, I know about other things than war or politics.

8. Many of you may have seen a Japanese flag that is white with the red the sun on it slightly to the left side and beams of red coming from the sun. It is not the Japanese National flag, it is the flag of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and before it was the flag of the Imperial Japanese Military.


	29. Chapter 29: Secrets of the Tundra

I can't believe that I have written almost 30 chapters. Damn this is turning into a long story, I thought I would be done around chapter 24 or so when I started, but I was wrong. This may reach 40 or so chapters. Hope ya'll like long stories. I also hope ya'll had a good holidays.

I don't own School Rumble, Bleach, or Full Metal Panic. Please review, and maybe tell a friend who you think will enjoy this story.

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**Chapter 29: Secrets of the Frozen North**

"Whoever does not miss the Soviet Union has no heart.

Whoever wants it back has no brain."

Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation

**0900 Hours; July 31****st****, 2010; Office of Brigadier General William A. Lennox; Special Operation Command Western Pacific Office; Yokohama; Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan**

(Please assume the following conversations of this chapter are all in English unless stated otherwise.)

Brigadier General William Andrew Lennox, the man in charge of SOCOM operation in the West Pacific sector, was enjoying his morning cup of coffee as he read a report on NATO operations in Shinomoseki. It appeared that the Japanese, Americans, British, and Germans had the Chinese HQ surrounded. Progress in Kitakyushu were much slower, but seemed to be going okay. The plan seemed to liberate Shinomoseki first and then throw the full NATO force at the PKA and PLA in Kitakyushu.

Lennox was a man in his late 50's; he had graying hair with small streaks of light brown. There were wrinkles and lines on his clean shaven face. He'd often come across as an indifferent old man, but truth be told, no one knew what really went through his mind.

**Knock, knock.**

"Come in," he said curtly without looking up from his report.

He heard two sets of footsteps enter the room and stand at attention in front of his desk. He looked up and saw two men in black business suits. One man had two parallel scars on his cheek and a scar from a knife wound on his neck. The other had a triangle shaped scar on his cheek.

"Morning Shinhachi, Maiwald. Nice suits," said Brig. General Lennox with a smirk on his old face.

"Very funny, sir," said Lt. Colonel Shinhachi coldly. "I would like to state as I did before you sent us out that operation that it was crazy and could have got us fired."

"Or killed," interjected Captain Maiwald.

"So what did you find?" asked Brig. General Lennox, more interested in their report than their complaints. Shinhachi and Maiwald were his best soldiers and he knew they were fine.

"You might have wanted to send the 8th covert platoon, instead of us sir," said Shinhachi taking a seat and a cup of coffee.

"You two know the ways of the Soviets better than 8th platoon. I know you're an assault platoon for combat operations, but you'd get the job done" said Lennox indifferently.

Shinhachi sighed, Lennox was considered a genius so he might as well as suck it up and give his report instead of reasoning with him, "Well sir. As you know, on 1400 Hours of 26th, July 2010 you ordered I, Lt. Colonel John S. Shinhachi, and Captain Jason E. Maiwald were to conduct a highly classified operation within the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic…"

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**0700 Hours; July 27****th****, 2010; Vladivostok International Airport, Vladivostok, Russia; Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic**

"Attention all passengers, Flight 215 from Anchorage, United States is now arriving," announced an airport employee in Russian over the airport's PA.

Two men in black business suits walked to the customs counter where customs officers waited.

"Welcome to Russia, sir. Passport please," said a customs officer at the counter. An Asian man with flecks of grey hair in his black hair nodded and handed the officer his passport. The man wore wire frame glasses over his green eyes. The man looked around at the police officers to look around and saw Soviet police officers who dressed like Soviet soldiers except they wore dark blackish-blue uniforms and only carried sidearms.

"Steven Thomas Koyashi, age 50, place or residence Arlington, Virginia, United States of America. Is that right?"

"Yes, sir it is," replied Koyashi stoically.

"What is the purpose for your visit to Mother Russia?"

"Purely business, my friend and I work for the US State Department and we're here to discuss things with our consulate (1) in Vladivostok."

The customs officer scrutinized the passport for a few more seconds, but seeing nothing wrong stamped the passport and handed it back to the man.

They went to the baggage claim and echo took a black case with retractable handle and wheels on the bottom, the kind of suitcase that everyone seems to own.

"You look good in a suit, Mr. Harrison," said Koyashi with a smirk.

"Yeah, you look good with green eyes," said Harrison in the same tone. "Amazing what some makeup, colored contacts, and other shit can do these days."

To everyone they passed it appeared that there were two men in their late 50s. What no one knew was that they were in fact two 20 year old men wearing makeup to hide very distinctive scars and to make themselves look older, in addition the two men had dyed their hair and were wearing contacts to change their eye colors to further their disguises.

"That our ride?" asked Koyashi.

"He's holding a sign with our names on it," said Harrison rolling his eyes.

"Mr. Koyashi and Mr. Harrison?" asked a man holding a piece of cardboard with their names written on it with permanent marker.

"Yes?"

"Get in," said the man holding the door to a jet black four-door car with diplomat license plates and a US flag attached to the radio antenna on the hood. They got and found themselves facing a woman in a grey business suit with matching skirt.

"Good morning Lt. Colonel Shinhachi and Captain Maiwald," greeted the woman once the doors were closed and the car started to leave the airport. "Did you have a pleasant flight?"

"As pleasant as it could be, knowing what we're about to do," said Maiwald dryly.

"I'm sure. My name isn't important, only that I serve Navy Intelligence. You understand that you cannot be detected? And that if you are ever captured the United States will deny everything, including your existence as US citizens," she said seriously.

"We know, John Shinhachi and Jason Maiwald were never in Russia. They are both still in Japan conducting raids and intelligence gathering missions against the Chinese and North Koreans," said Shinhachi.

"You'll be taken to our safe house located inside the consulate. There, I will brief you on sites where we think you can find what you're looking for."

"Thank you ma'am."

So they passed through an iron gate and stepped inside the front door of the US consulate in Vladivostok. They were led to a secure area of the building, down a long flight of stairs, and through a door with armed guards standing outside.

The woman removed her blazer and slipped on a navy tunic. "Satellites took these pictures. The first image shows Soviet West Pacific HQ, here in Vladivostok."

"I'd rather not go into a major Soviet HQ crawling with Red Army, Red Navy, Red Air Force, Spetsnaz, and KGB," said Shinhachi seriously, but with a slight smile to emphasize how unwise her suggestion was.

"Then I take it you wouldn't want to sneak into the KGB West Pacific HQ, eh?" with a smile.

"Any place not inhabited so many Ivans (2)?"

"There's an air base that belongs to the Spatsnaz west of here that is mostly deserted at night," said the woman looking at a file.

"Sold," said Shinhachi.

"Take these," said the woman passing two KGB uniforms with papers and IDs. "We'll take you to a CIA safehouse near by where they'll load you a UAZ you can take to the base. Oh, and make sure no one can trace you back to any of the safehouses."

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**0230 Hours; July 28****th****, 2010; Red Army/Air Force Special Forces Base, eastern Russia; Soviet Union**

"Are any Reds suppose to look Asian?" asked Maiwald as they drove towards the base.

"Some of the Russians out here in eastern Russia are ethnically similar to the Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans, so if I claim to be from the areas around Vladivostok or Sakhalin then I can easily pass myself off as a Russian," said Shinhachi simply. "Okay, we're approaching a guard post. They're gonna' ask us for ID, but don't show it. We're the KGB, we don't show ID, we just glare and make it sound like we're here on business."

"Right, good luck comrade," said Maiwald with a grin.

"ID please," said a guard armed with a new AN-94, two more guards were sitting inside of a small guard hut with a TV in it; they appeared to be watching some game show.

"ID?" asked Shinhachi in an arrogate tone. "Comrade, we do not need ID and our IDs are not your business. Understand?"

The soldier eyed the KGB insignia nervously. "Yeah, comrade. Go ahead."

As Maiwald drove the UAZ on, he said, "Nice one Jack."

They drove up to an administration building and got out. They walked up through the doors, past a skeleton crew. As Navy Intelligence had said, everyone on this base was either asleep, out on a mission, or in Vladivostok. Only a few people remained on the base at this hour. Shinhachi and Maiwald both knew that the secrecy of the Soviet Union would make it impossible for the Kremlin to prove or disprove they were ever there or for anyone to discover if they were really KGB. That was the difference between the US and the USSR covert agencies. America information was centralized and easily access if one knew what they were doing, however that meant that security breaches could be much more easily detected.

"Halt!" said two guards blocking their paths with PP-19 Bizons standing in front of a set of double-doors. Shinhachi and Maiwald pushed them quite indifferently out of their way.

"Hey, you can't go in their!" shouted one of the guards.

"The Kremlin says other wise," said Maiwald coolly without stopping or looking back. They marched forwards down the hallway, unopposed; noting as they walked that almost all the rooms deserted on the base.

"I'll take the east wing, you take the west," whispered Shinhachi.

"Got it," whispered Maiwald back.

Maiwald walked alone down the halls looking at the signs on the doors.

'Storage… Armory… Communications… Colonel Kievsky Office, KGB Intelligence Division… mmm that sounds right.'

He listened at the door for a few seconds and then took out a small power tool which picked locks (3). He entered the room and searched it for all useful items. He saw a desktop computer and began to hack into the system.

Meanwhile, Shinhachi was searching through the Spetsnazs' offices for information. He pulled out a file from a major's desk draw. It was about Soviet covert operations in Kazakhstan.

'To: the Kremlin. We notice as of late that the weapons that an unknown group was carrying were more advanced than the ones we ourselves are armed with. We also noted that they appeared to have crossed Central Asia and seem to be moving west towards the Caucasus and the European Continent. Please alert our comrades in the areas around Chechnya as they may be in grave danger.'

'They're moving west?' wonder Shinhachi.

"Hey, what are you doing at comrade Major Smerov?!" demanded a Russian captain.

'Think fast Jack,' Shinhachi thought to himself. "That is official state business, comrade."

He saw the eyes of the captain widen in fear for a second. Inside Shinhachi let out a sigh of relief, he had control over the situation and now he could manipulate this captain to his advantage; currently he wanted to make sure that he wouldn't be a problem to himself.

"Has this comrade Smerov ever displayed unpatriotic behavior, or exhibited unusual actions that is unfitting of an officer of the glorious Red Army?" asked Shinhachi with a raised eyebrow and a perfectly convincing suspicious tone.

"Er… no comrade… uh?" said the captain probing for a name.

"No names," said Shinhachi coldly looking through more files. "Nothing here. I'll be on my way."

And without another word Shinhachi pushed the Russian captain aside and walked casually out of the room. He entered a photo analytical unit office and began to look through recent photos taken in Central Asia. He found one marked:

KGB File

Top Secret

Do Not Copy, Eyes Only

And a second stamp in red ink said:

To Be Destroyed

The photos showed rows of tents and sheet metal buildings with camouflage nettings over them to make it difficult for them to be spotted from the air. Shinhachi with a careful eye saw that in other pictures of the same location showed several battalions of tanks, ACPs, IFVs, mobile-AA, SP (self-propelled) artillery, and several other vehicles types. They weren't outdated Soviet equipment either, typical of militias; he could see T-90s, SA-13 Gophers, BMP-3s, BTR-90s, 2S7 Pion, and even the new T-95. One photo had caught an airborne Komov Ka-50 flying over a row of tents, the Ka-50 Hokum was a rare attack helicopter that was only in service with elite Soviet units.

'To Be Destroyed, eh?' thought Shinhachi, 'guess they won't miss it.' He got on a computer and filled out a proper application to show that the document was disposed of by a KGB officer and no longer exists. He searched through a stack of completed memos to see who filled them out because the person who filled out these memos and notices had to put their name on and had to get a superior officer's name and signature. Shinhachi found a sergeant who'd filled out some disposal of document memos and filled in that sergeant's name, rank, and serial number. Shinhachi next found a lieutenant who had signed some of those memos and Shinhachi foraged his signature. He left the memo in an inbox and placed the file into an empty suitcase that was left in a corner. He closed it and left in search of Maiwald.

Maiwald was searching through the KGB database, careful not to leave a trace. He searched through one file after another until he found one that was unusually heavily encrypted. Intrigued, he began to the unencrypted the file, doing so slowly and cautiously in case it was a trap of some kind that would alert KGB Central Headquarters in Moscow.

"Shit," he whispered to himself as it denied him access. He tried it again, and again. After the eighth try he got access. He read it quickly and smiled. He made a copy to a flashdrive he had with him, re-encrypted the file, slipped the flashdrive into an inside pocket of his tunic, and left the room.

As Maiwald walked down the hall he saw Shinhachi come from around a corner. They fell into step with each other.

"Get anything?" asked Shinhachi as he walked with Maiwald.

"An encrypted file that had scanned copies of handwritten notes," said Maiwald.

"What'd they show?"

"It seems that some of the KGB is using an abandon missile silo as some kind of base of operations and from what I gathered it's for the coup. What'd you find?"

"A file that was going to be destroyed. It shows the 43rd armored division. I also got a memo from the Spetsnaz that mention them passing through Kazakhstan and heading towards Europe."

Maiwald let a smile slip onto his face, "We got 'em then."

"So it seems," said Shinhachi. "Let's check a few more offices, just for show."

"So the KGB can't figure out what we're looking for by adding a few red herrings?"

"Exactly."

They walked around looking for more intelligence. Shinhachi looked outside from a window onto the airstrip. He saw a flight (4) of Sukhoi Su-37 Flanker-Fs, also known as the Terminator, taking off into the darkness. He saw a Ka-50 and a Mi-17 Hip depart and head off west with a platoon of Spetsnaz for some mission.

"Where you think those Spetsnaz are headed?" asked Shinhachi.

"Well there headed west… maybe counter-terrorism missions," suggested Maiwald.

"Check it out," said Shinhachi pointing to a flight of fighter planes. "Sukhoi's latest plane, the Su-47 Berkut."

Su-47, known as the Berkut in the Soviet Union and in NATO by its reporting name the Firkin, was the latest plane from Sukhoi. It feature forward facing wings for maximum maneuverability and internal weapons bays to give it some limited stealth capabilities. It was a bit unusual for Soviets to make such an expensive plane, but it was a deadly aircraft only in limited production for elite squadrons.

"The Su-47 only just went into the production so they must be an elite squadron to get the Firkin," said Maiwald. "What was the plane expected to be the next generation mainstay fighter of the Red Air Force?"

"Mikoyan-Guryevich (MiG) newest plane, the MiG-39 Flatpack. Intel thinks it's based on the Euro Fighter EF-2000 Typhoon because the Flatpack looks so similar," emplained Shinhachi.

They past a guard who was patrolling the hallway, he glanced at Shinhachi and Maiwald, but didn't say anything. They searched an office that belonged to the base commander; they were making their search appear to be as broad as possible by searching a little bit of everything. They'd even gathered a few interesting things along the way such as a report on Soviet covert operations in Japan which seemed to primarily involve monitoring US troops in Japan. I didn't appear to be a problem to the war, but might be useful in the future.

Deciding they had enough information from this sight they headed back to the UAZ. They barged through the double-doors they'd come through before, knocking over the guards that had tried to stop them from entering in the process. Everyone in the rooms tried to appear to be busy or at least averted their eyes from the two supposed KGB officers.

They opened the doors of the UAZ and Maiwald started it up. Shinhachi opened the glove compartment and pulled out a small black box and pressed a button on it. They waited for a few seconds while a red light blinked on the black box until a green light flashed. "It's clear, no bugs, wireless listening, or tracking devices."

"Cool, RTB (returning to base)," said Maiwald. He checked the review mirror after driving for half an hour. "No one's following us."

"Good, we should be happy that only Red Army and Red Air Force were there. Had there been real KGB agents we'd have been scrutinized," said Shinhachi.

"Yeah, it went really smooth. Let's hope that the next site will be easy too," said Maiwald.

"Yeah," agreed Shinhachi. "So, it's this silo that you think is being used illegally as base of sorts for the coup?"

"That or it's at least a place where we can get proof that the some of the KGB is up to something. We should be able to get names from there."

"I see, what's are ETA to the safehouse?"

"… about two hours."

They pulled into the CIA safehouse and got out of the UAZ. A couple of CIA agents were waiting for them.

They were escorted to a briefing room.

"What did you get?" asked Mr. Wilson, a middle aged black man dressed in a black business suit, the kind of clothing typical of the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), Secret Service, and NSA (National Security Administration).

"We have recon photos taken in Kazakhstan of the 43rd Armor Division. We also have a photo we took of a memo from a Spetsnaz officer mention an 'unidentified usually heavily armed group heading west toward Europe'. From that it seems that the whole Red Army isn't aware of what's going on," said Shinhachi passing the file around for the CIA agents to examine.

"I took this off a PC in a KGB office. It points to a missile silo up in Siberia which may be being used as some kind of base of operations in the east," Maiwald setting up his laptop and pulling up the file onto a projector for everyone to see.

Ms. Wayne, a woman with her blond hair pulled into a knot typed at the laptop in front of her and then said, "That silo isn't listed in here."

"The design is fairly modern… maybe early 1980s," said Mr. Orloff, a balding man.

"Mmmm, that would mean it's in violation of some arms treaties," said Mr. Wilson. "What do you think is there?"

"Names," said Shinhachi simply.

"The silo isn't in use anymore, we can go in and see what we can find," said Maiwald.

"Undercover?" asked Mr. Orloff.

"No, they'll know the faces of everyone on board and probably recognized a stranger. Plus, since this silo is in violation of a treaty that means the Kremlin can't confront our government and I highly doubt the KGB will be able to explain themselves if they report our presence," said Shinhachi. "We'll use the secrecy of the Soviet Union to our advantage."

There was silence and then. "The Navy wants one of their people on site with you. An Ensign Elizabeth Troy, Navy SEAL recon specialist. We also would like one of our people on this too, a Mr. James Franco, weapons of mass destruction inspector."

"So the Navy just wants to see what's out they and you want to know if that silo is functional, right?"

"Precisely."

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**2257 Hours; July 29****th****, 2010; Soviet Ballistic Missile Silo #K2-34; somewhere in Siberia Region, northeastern Russia; Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic**

An unmarked MH-60 Pave Hawk being escorted by an unmarked AH-64D Apache Longbow were making their way throw the frozen tundra of northeastern Russia. Even though it was summer they were only about 200 miles away from the artic circle so snow still covered the earth and there was more snow falling.

Shinhachi checking the gun he had barrowed from the CIA, the Swiss-German built SIG SG-552 a special forces version of the larger SIG SG-550. It was a rare and expensive gun, but one of the best available, used only by a handful of covert warfare units such as the GSG-9, CIA, and black ops units unknown. It fired a NATO 5.52x45mm cartridge from a 30 round banana clip. It feature semi-auto, 3-round burst, and full auto fire. It also had a side-folding skeleton stock (5). The CIA had added a laser dot scope and a noise and light suppresser. This was by far the best weapon he'd ever had the chance to use. Shinhachi made a mental note to find out what happen to the H&K G-416 carbines he'd ordered to upgrade Roanoke's equipment.

Maiwald was also admiring his barrowed weapon, a SIG SG-550. It was used by some special forces and the Swiss Army, CIA, NSA, and CIC as sharpshooter's rifle or a close range sniper rifle. It didn't have the range of the M-21 or SR-25, but they would be engaging enemies at close range anyways. It had all the same appearance as the SG-552, but it was a longer gun and it was mounted it a bipod and ACOG 5.5x zoom scope.

Ensign Troy had her H&K G-36C in her lap. It had a laser dot scope and suppresser like everyone else, but nothing else. She also had some surveillance equipment in her pack. She had dark brown hair that stopped just short of her shoulders.

Franco, a man clearly of Italian descent with tanned skin and dark curly hair, was not wearing military gear, but then again, the CIA was not part of the military. He was dressed appropriately with winter gear, Kevlar vest underneath, and so on. He had a SG-552 like Shinhachi, but it was probably his weapon and not barrowed.

Shinhachi was not fond of the CIA; he personally thought they were incompetent. There had always been a sort of turf war between the government agencies like the CIA, NSA, and CIC, and the military agencies like the Navy SEALs, Task Force Delta, G-2, and other military intelligence units. There had also always been a turf war between the Army and Navy, but Ensign Troy's presence didn't bother him that much compared to Franco. Still, this was too important for a 'pissing match'.

"You two understand that this is our operation?" asked Shinhachi in his authoritative tone. They nodded.

"Okay, we need not worry about who knows we are here because no one in the Soviet Union can admit anything without a lot of awkward questions coming up," said Maiwald. "We have a job to do."

"I understand that you both have your own agendas, but we are not risking our operation for you. Get it on the go or we leave you behind, understand?" said Shinhachi.

"Got it," said Troy indifferently. "It won't take long."

"My job shouldn't take long," said Franco. "Just check to see if the missiles are operational."

The red light came on and they got ready for the operation. "Good luck," said Shinhachi.

The green light flashed twice and became solid. Ropes dropped from above the doors and they slip down them to the snowy earth below.

"Check com-links, this is Piney Creek checking in, status normal, all units report," said Shinhachi using his personal callsign; something he rarely used except when he was put in covert missions like this one.

"Geheime (secret; in German), checking in, status normal," reported Maiwald using his personal callsign.

"This is Cipher, checking in, status normal," reported Troy.

"This is Dragoon, checking in, status normal," reported Franco.

"According to the file, there is a tunnel that we can use to enter the facility about 500m west of us," said Shinhachi. "Spread out and keep an eye out."

They crept through the trees and brush towards a mountain. They saw nothing as they moved through the darkness.

"Service road ahead," said Maiwald.

"No contacts in sight… nothing on the thermal scope," said Troy.

"There's a patch of gravel, use that. Don't step in the snow or you'll leave tracks," ordered Shinhachi.

They crossed the road and were now moving up hill through a fairly thick forest. The trees were blocking out the sky and most of the fallen snow, which worried Shinhachi because it meant that their tracks wouldn't be covered.

"Is that the tunnel entrance?" asked Franco.

"Looks like it. It looks like some kind of mine," said Maiwald.

"I have a visual on three tangos. One shooter over the entrance with a Dragunov, two guards with AK-105," reported Troy.

"Okay, Geheime, there is some distance between the sniper and the gunmen so take out the sniper first. Dragoon, as soon as the two gunmen turn away from each other, take one of them out. I'll shoot the other. Cipher, shoot out the light above the entrance. We'll all turn on our night vision goggles," ordered Shinhachi. "Stand by for my order."

"Geheime, standing by."

"Dragoon, standing by."

"Cipher, all clear and standing by."

"Okay, in 5,4,3,2,1, green light."

The sniper standing idly on a cliff above the mine entrance was looking towards the north when a 5.52x45mm round shot right through his skull killing him on the spot. Unaware of anything wrong, the two guards continued their conversation. After a couple of minutes one guard walked off towards the south while the other stared off into the east.

"They're separating, Dragoon taking the shot… he's down."

"Piney Creek, here, second tango is down… all clear, proceed with the mission."

They moved forward into the mine. They lowered their night vision goggles and activated them.

"What kind of mine is this?" asked Troy.

"Don't know, the file didn't specify," said Maiwald.

"Could be any number of things, Russia is full of minerals, natural gas, and oil," said Shinhachi.

"Oh shit," said Maiwald suddenly, Shinhachi saw him bending down to inspect something.

"What?" asked Shinhachi.

"Lead."

"So, lead isn't unusual," said Franco.

"It's naturally occurring."

There was a horrified silence.

"I know lead is poisonous, but is it that dangerous?" asked Troy.

"You know what defines a radioactive atom?" asked Franco.

"Yeah, an element that's nucleus is unstable and breaks down until it reaches a stable form."

"Right and lead is the first stable atom that it reaches. Naturally occurring lead means that there was radioactive elements here and there is a strong probability that there still are," said Franco; Shinhachi and Maiwald both nodded confirming Franco's statement (6).

"Right… then that would probably mean that this is a uranium mine," said Troy looking around.

"Mmm… clever, putting a missile silo next to a uranium mine," said Franco thinking out loud. "If we'd detected radiation then the Agency would have thought it was the mine and not suspected a missile facility."

He continued to think as they quickly backtracked out of the mine.

"New plan, we follow the service road and enter the silo, Franco any ideas?" asked Shinhachi feeling that since Franco was a trained expert on the subject, he would have an idea of how to enter it.

"Well… it's probably a small facility with maybe 2 or 4 missile tubes. Since they are far away from any base or town they won't need a lot of security and they will already be trying to avoid detection," started Franco.

"Access?" asked Maiwald.

"A concrete structure, about the size of a small storage shed. It'll be designed to withstand a nuclear blast so it will be very sturdy. It will only have a staircase that will go to the underground facilities."

"And that will be how we can reach the control room?" asked Troy.

"It should be. Considering it is a standard Soviet design."

They held this conversation while moving through the trees parallel to the service road that ran to the facility. They saw a chain link fence topped with barbed wire and keep out signs in Russia posted all around. A building made of sheet metal with a three bay garage for trucks or APCs with an attached office sat in the middle of the fenced area. There was a second building, also made of sheet metal; the second building appeared to be a barrack for a small security staff.

"This area isn't fully staffed by guards… I see at least 4 cameras," said Troy.

"Shoot 'em down, now."

"Geheime to Piney Creek, I see a transformer right in front of us. We just need to go through the fence."

They moved to the fence. Maiwald pulled out what looked like a spray can and sprayed a mist onto the fence traced a man sized hole. He pulled on the fence and after a decent tug Maiwald pulled the section of the fence he traced.

"We gotta' send a thank you letter to the guy who invented the liquid nitrogen spray can," said Maiwald. Maiwald opened the transformer and cut the power to the buildings on the surface. He could hear a few Russians talking in confusion when the lights went out. Shinhachi, Maiwald, Troy, and Franco dashed quietly across the compound to a slanted concrete building, close enough to what Franco had described.

Shinhachi opened the door while the others stood by to breach when it was opened. They descended the concrete stairs, turned right, walked down a short hall, turned right again, and down several flights of stairs.

They opened a door to a main hallway. It was a concrete hallway with pipes and electrical lines running along the walls.

"Is it clear?" asked Maiwald to Shinhachi as he looked down the halls.

"Nope, two tangos." Shinhachi checked his watch, 0317 hours. They had roughly an hour and forty minutes to get in and out.

"We can't stay silent… it's taking too long, we'll fight out way through," said Shinhachi raising his SG-552 and gunning down the two guards. "All units weapons free."

They moved quickly down the hall following a sign that said 'Control Room'. They reached a set of heavy steel double-doors.

"Bang and clear," said Shinhachi pulled out a flashbang. Troy stood at the door to open it; Maiwald and Franco were standing by to breach.

"Go," ordered Shinhachi calmly.

The door open, the flashbang was tossed, and chaos ensued. The Soviets inside the control room were not expecting any company considering their lack of security. Most of them were only armed with handguns and hand no chance as the four man commando team ripped the Soviet soldiers to shreds. Shinhachi heard the bolt lock in the open position on his rifle signaling he was out of ammo. Without hesitating he drew out his Colt .45 and shot at the Soviets nearest him.

"Clear!"

"Clear!"

"Clear!"

Troy, Maiwald, and Franco had each reported that the room was clear. Shinhachi nodded slowly and said calmly, "Clear. Franco, check the room for whatever you came here for and check for an escape route when you're done. Troy, help Jason barricade the door and then go about your business."

"Rodger that sir," they responded. The control room was a large room with several large monitors on one wall, a bunch of desks and computers sitting on tiers that descended downwards towards the monitors. A typical war room style room. There was a office in each corner of the room and a meeting room on the left side of the room with glass windows to allow the occupants to see outside to out onto the floor.

Shinhachi entered one of the offices and started to hack into the computer in there. He searched through multiple files until he found one that was on the US.

'Project: Star Wars II," read Shinhachi.

"Preject: Star Wars II?" said Maiwald reading the monitor over Shinhachi's shoulder. "What is it?"

"You ever hear of Project: Star Wars?"

"Yeah, a missile defense system President Regan started, but never complete," recalled Maiwald remembering it from his history class.

"Star Wars II was a missile defense system started in secret by US President William Clinton in 1996 and was continued by President George W. Bush and has been continued by President Michelle Crane (7)," read Shinhachi out loud. "It was complete in October of 2009. It consists of a chemical laser capable of shooting down satellites and Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM) outside of the Earth's atmosphere. Known sites of the system are Fort Teller, WA. Other sites are believe to be in existence and that protects all NATO nations and NATO interest from ICBMs including Japan, South Korea, Israel, and Panama. The system has been confirmed by our analysts in the US to be fully functional."

"Shit, I've never even heard of this," said Shinhachi. "Jason can you…"

"Sure, I'll make us a copy and delete it from this terminal," said Maiwald.

"Whoa," exclaimed Shinhachi.

"What?" asked Maiwald as he deleted the Soviet's files on Star Wars II.

"There was a link to a Soviet missile defense system. Project: Polaris… Jason you're the aerospace expert, what'd you make of this?"

"Let's see… it's some kind of cannon that uses electro-magnetically charged rails, in other words a railgun," explained Maiwald.

"Right… that would mean the projectile never makes physical contact with the barrel to maximize its velocity… how fast are we talking?"

"According to this the original model could shoot at mach 5, but the complete version can do mach 9.5."

"Wait, it's a cannon so it the projectile has no guidance… how do they plan on shooting down a missile traveling at mach 5?"

"It uses a laser targeting system and coordinates with satellites… damn I've never seen such an expensive weapons system, I've never seen anything like this from Russia," said Maiwald clearly in awe.

"Is it functional?"

"Yes."

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**1320 Hours; July 31****st****, 2010; Brig. General Lennox's Office, Yokohama; Kanagawa Prefecture, Japanese Federation**

"… we had to fight our way out sir, but no one trace it back to the US. We left the motherland without a hitch and brought these files back," finished Shinhachi.

Brigadier General Lennox read the files Shinhachi and Maiwald had brought him, his face was impassive.

He slowly removed his reading glasses and turned to face them. "This is serious stuff; I'll need you two to finish your report."

"And?" Shinhachi and Maiwald asked simultaneously.

"And I think I'll have it to tell President Crane."

They had named half of the KGB and a good portion of the Soviet military planning to start an upraising with Lt. General Joseph Penovaski as the leader of the coup. Civil war would be brewing in the Soviet Union when Penovaski started his Operation: Red Revolution.

* * *

Okay, I hadn't realized that this chapter would be this long. I hope ya'll enjoyed a brief look into a black ops mission, as far as I know, would look like. This also helps bring Penovaski back in the picture as a character, even though he hasn't been shown. I'll be going back to 5th squad next chapter.

I realized that I'd left many mistakes in this chapter. Sorry, it was late and I wasn't really paying attention. I proofed it and it should be a little better.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. A consulate is like an embassy. Embassies are placed in a foreign country's capitol. A consulate is placed in cities, that way if a person was visiting a city in a foreign country there would be a place where they could go that functions just like an embassy. Consulates are usually only placed in major cities such as New York City or Munich, cities that are big and frequented by tourist or foreign visitors of some kind.

2. Ivan is one of a few nicknames for the Russians.

3. There are electric lock-picks, but they're illegal to own. I think safe cracker who work for the police, military, and government agencies are allowed to possess them, for work only.

4. A flight consists of 3 or 4 planes. In most US and NATO fighter flights, there are four planes.

5. A skeleton stock is a stock that has most of it cut out leaving the frame of the stock. It is supposedly lighter weight. It is seen on the H&K G-36, H&K UMP .45, AKS-74, and a number of other assault rifles built post-Vietnam War era; not that there is a connection between the Vietnam War/Second Indochina War and the skeleton stock.

6. It is a fact that naturally occurring lead is a sign of the presence of radioactive elements. Don't worry about stuff like lead paint, it won't have radioactive element.

7. Although there was a Project: Star Wars started and left uncompleted by President Regan, Project: Star Wars II is a fictional creation of my imagination.


	30. Chapter 30: Smiting the Embers Part I

Chapter 30 and my first chapter of 2008, cool. I can't believe my story has gotten this long. Also sorry about the delay, I've been in the holiday slump.

Thank you to Seinaru, Perrou, Smokey.Blade, Ominae, and evelsaint93. A special thank you to Perrou and evelsaint93 for adding my story to your favorite stories list. I'm gonna' try to end the Battle of Shinomoseki in the next few chapters. Then 5th squad gets sent home again for a brief rest, and then comes the invasion of Korea. There is an end in sight at last, but don't worry that end will probably take until a while and then there is a sequel I'm planning on writing.

I don't own School Rumble, Bleach, or Full Metal Panic. Please review and if you can, tell a friend.

Thanks for reading my story this far and sticking with me this long.

NOTICE: This story will temporarilly on hold. I am going to be editing the first 17 chapter of my story. Chapter 31 will not be up until I finish editing those chapters. I'm really sorry, but I need to get this done. I may be worth re-reading my early chapters because I have made a few changes to them all to tighten up the plot and timeline.

* * *

**Chapter 30: Smiting the Embers Part I**

"I know I am a real asset," Frank Burns

"You're only off by two letters," Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce

**A scene from 'The Adduction of Major Margaret Houlihan', Season 5 of the TV show MASH**

**0700 Hours; August 1****st****, 2010; Harbor District; Shinomoseki, Japan**

Harima was stirring instant oatmeal in a pot over a portable propane stove; it was his turn to cook breakfast. He started to put spoonfuls of oatmeal into the small generic metal trays that were issued to basically every soldier in the world.

As Harima ate his oatmeal he began to review his latest manga chapter, it seemed mostly ready and just need Yakumo-san to color it in. He placed it in an envelope and sealed it for mailing as soon as the postal service in Shinomoseki started up again, when ever that was.

Harima walked out to the large door of the warehouse and stared out at the docks. Some of the Japanese warships had pulled into port for repairs. A couple of supply ships had pulled in and unloaded supplies for the NATO forces. Several other ships had pulled in closer to the port since there was a low threat of land attacks and to be any to attack targets further inland. A pair of US Ticonderoga Class aegis cruisers had also moved close to port for land bombardments. Harima had seen them firing a few cruise missiles and 5 inch shells inland.

A US MASH had been set up not far down the docks and helipad for choppers to bring in wounded. Harima watched as a US UH-60 Black Hawk with the medical cross on its waist fly towards the MASH.

A supply yard had been set up in the area and since this is a port for cargo ships, there were plenty of places to store food, munitions, etc. Pads for attack, transport, and recon choppers had been set up in the area too. Basically, the area had been turned into a forward base of operations for the assault on the Chinese HQ.

Japanese, US, British, and German troops, vehicles, and armor had been driving in since yesterday leading most people to suspect the order to attack to come soon.

Speaking of yesterday, all Japanese soldiers were ordered to turn in their pins which said Japanese Federal Ground Self-Defense Force, identifying them as soldiers that had completed their training. They received new ones; it was a bronze pin with the Emperor's Seal, the chrysanthemum, and a new inscription underneath the seal, "Japanese Federal Army." The Maritime Defense Forces and Air Defense Forces also received new pins which said Japanese Federal Navy and Japanese Federal Air Force respectively. Harima was still getting use to being a soldier of the Japanese Army.

"Oi, Kenji," called out Hanai.

"What?"

"You hear?"

"Hear what?"

"The rumor that we're launching the attack today," said Hanai.

"Iē, but it would explain all this preparation," said Harima looking again at everything that had been placed in the harbor area.

Harima after finishing his breakfast walked over to his pack and sleeping bag. He rolled up his sleeping bag and strapped it to his bag. He pulled his utility belt and tightened it; adjusting holster for his M1911A1 Colt .45. He checked to make sure his bayonet was secured in its sheath and made sure he was fully stocked on ammo; he didn't want to attack the Chinese HQ without all the ammo he could carry.

Harima looked around and saw the rest of 5th squad was doing similar things. Hanai was inspecting the Barrette M9 that someone found, probably stole, and was using it to replace the Type 54 handgun he'd picked up in Korea. It was a 9x19mm semi-auto handgun made by the Italian company Barrette, held 15 rounds and standard issue to the US military, or so Harima had read in NATO Recognition Guide to Recognizing NATO Uniforms and Equipment. Hanai though it was lucky Harima was a strong man; otherwise he wouldn't be any to carry what amounted to a small library.

Kitsumori was inspecting his new gun; a US built M60E4 light machine gun. It was larger, heavier, lower rate of fire, and bulkier than the Belgian built FN Mimini. However, it had longer range and was more powerful with the larger NATO 7.62x51mm cartridge. It had an adjustable metal gun sights like on Harima's M-14E3, a pistol grip, a handle grip, bipod, and could be mounted on a tripod, but they didn't receive a tripod.

Jupei was cleaning her Type 89 assault rifle. She checked the grenade launcher to make sure it in working order.

Kurosaki was looking through the medical kit he'd taken from the downed British chopper the other day. It all came in a nice compact synthetic bag about the size of the satchel like bag he used to carry to school. It had a nice little clip-on strap that could be attached conveniently to his utility belt. In the absence of a medic in 2nd platoon, Kurosaki was counted as the next closest thing to one.

Kaoji was testing his new binoculars; it had a laser range finder which by pressing a button would activate a laser to measure distance from him to what he was looking at.

Ishida was cleaning the scope on his M-21. It was a standard telescoping 8x zoom model with ordinary crosshairs.

Asou walked in through the warehouse doors and picked up his pack. He ejected the clip from his SIG Sauer P-226, checked to see if it was loaded, and then popped it back in. "5th squad, we're moving out."

5th squad, along with the rest of 2nd platoon, was walking to the front. They were heading uphill along secure street. They had to walk on the sidewalks or else risk being run over by NATO armor, being road kill for vehicles averaging 10 to 70 tons was not very appealing. Unlike before, there were civilians out and about. A young man was sweeping a store front; a couple of elementary students were watching NATO soldiers march or drive by. A group of old men and women were sitting at a small battered tea shop, a middle aged woman and her teenage kids were serving them; some of them waved and even smiled at the sight of soldiers from their own nation. The Japanese were generally xenophobic, fear of foreigners. They were living in a country where almost everyone was the same ethnic group, especially the elder population, and they weren't use to seeing thousands of foreigners let along foreign soldiers.

People, cleaning up. People, trying to repair their homes and businesses. People, trying to return to their normal lives the best they knew how.

It had never really dawned on Harima that strongly, but they had been invaded. It was ironic that on the eve of driving the PKA and PLA forces out of Japan that he'd allowed this fact to soak in, but then again, Harima was starting to become aware that very slow on the uptake. Seeing normal people, trying to live normal lives in a war zone had sent home the fact that his homeland was attack and people like him had suffered. He'd never lived in Shinomoseki or been here before, but he knew what Japanese cities looked like and he could appreciate what invasion really meant. How scary and overwhelming it must of made Mai feel when her country was invaded.

Various flags were seen hanging from windows, porches, and even street lamps. The flags included all NATO member states: Japanese Federation, United States of America, United Kingdom of Great Briton, Republic of France, Republic of Turkey, Federal Republic of Germany, Hellenic Republic (Greece), Republic of Albanian, Italian Republic, Kingdom of Belgium, Kingdom of the Netherlands (Holland), Kingdom of Denmark, Royal Commonwealth of Canada, Republic of Austria, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization flag itself.

Harima also saw people armed with Chinese weapons and wearing crudely made armbands which were white cloth with a red circle on it, meant to be the Japanese flag. Their ages seemed to range from 14 to 60, they were clearly resistance fighters who been fighting the PLA and PKA the best they could.

2nd platoon reached a street corner, above hanging from a traffic light was a sign that read:

You are now leaving secure areas and entering enemy territory

Enter at you own risk

It repeated the same message in German, English, and French.

"Echo Company, spread out," order Captain Hitsugaya via the radio headsets.

Asou knew that one block over to his left was 1st platoon and one block to his right was 3rd platoon. He ordered his squad to spread out a little. He began to scan upper story windows and rooftops for enemy soldiers and snipers.

A wave of explosions went off and instinctively everyone hit the ground. Asou was one of the first to stand up when he realized that it was their own navy firing and the barrage was landing miles ahead of them.

A group of Japanese F-1s soared over the area being shelled and added their payload to the mix.

Suddenly volleying of machine gun fire poured on them, they'd reached the PLA lines of defense. Japanese soldiers scattered and sought cover in doorways and alleys to returned fire. Two Japanese Type 89 (1) IFVs that were supporting 2nd platoon's advance began to pelt the PLA with its 35mm auto-cannon.

Undaunted, the PLA fired from rooftops, behind curtains, and through windows. Asou began to lead he squad to flank the enemy. He moved down an alley way. He found a service alley that led to the backdoors of the stores. Ishida fired and killed a Chinese MG crew who were covering the service alley. 5th squad lined up to breach the backdoor of a small office building that the PLA had set up MG positions in.

Shimazu placed a C2 charge on the door and stood back ready to detonate it.

**POW!**

"Fire in the hole!" shouted Asou as he tossed an M67 frag grenade through the doorway.

**Bang!**

"Breaching!"

Asou moved through the door and was greeted by a PLA soldier who was killed by the grenade. In a glance Asou saw the soldier had his chest blown open and his heart and lungs were partially visible. He veered left and checked a janitor's closet, clear. There was a directory on the wall showing the different businesses in the building: a private investigator, a physiologist, two lawyers, a dentist, and a few other small businesses and empty offices.

"Okay, we have a 6 story building… each floor has three offices and a bathroom. There's a basement with electrical and boiler. Okay, we'll start with this floor and clear them one by one," said Asou.

Asou led the way to the staircase, bypassing the elevator which didn't seem like a wise option to use. He opened the door and let Yamako pass him to check out the staircase. Ikuro led her team up the stairs. Kurosaki, Abarai, and Hitsayo were following her to the next floor. With her the strap of her M4A1 carbine over her shoulder, she held in one hand so she could fire with one hand (2) while opening the door. No one was in the hall. One door was open and she could see the flashes from a machine gun being fired.

The assault team got ready to breach the open door. The fire teams slipped pass them to the next door. The engineer team was checking the unisex bathroom. The command team got ready to storm the third office.

Ikuro selected full-auto and turned to face the office. She fired a long burst of automatic fire in the backs of the Chinese machine gunners. Her team joined her and emptied their weapons on the PLA soldiers. Hanai kicked the door in on the office next door and found an empty receptionist/waiting room of a dentist clinic, three doors, two operating rooms and one office.

"We'll start left to right," said Hanai.

A door opened and a PLA soldier walked out saw the Japanese soldier and slammed the door.

"New plan," said Hanai signaling to shoot the door. Harima selected full-auto and shot heavy NATO 7.62x51mm rounds through the door and into the next room. He could hear a heavy object fall over on the other side.

"I'll open it and jump out of the way, you guys shoot anything that moves," ordered Hanai as stepped towards the door while Kitsumori, Harima, and Jupei prepared to fire. He opened the door and jumped back, but no one fired; the room was clear. The other rooms were clear. So was the other office.

5th squad was headed to the third floor, but a fallen I-beam had made the door inaccessible. The forth floor was unoccupied.

Fifth floor, Asou could see some PLA soldiers standing in the hallway trying to repair a QJZ89 12.7x108mm HMG (heavy machine gun). Asou opened the door and veered left to allow the person behind him to enter the hall. He fired a few bursts and then turned left into an accounting office where a sniper and spotter were set up. The spotter heard Asou coming and raised a Type 85 SMG. Asou had a bead on her though and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened, he only heard a click.

The spotter was just getting Asou in her sights when Yamako entered the room and shot the soldier in the head.

Asou looked at his Type 89 assault rifle, he had what his drill sergeant had called a stovepipe jam (3), a spent cartridge had gotten stuck while exiting the chamber and prevent the bolt of closing. He pulled the bolt back and let the empty casing fall out.

Next door, Ikuro, Kurosaki, Hitsayo, and Abarai had cleared out an empty office of a PLA AT crew.

Sixth floor, the door was already open and hanging off its hinges. 5th squad plowed through and prepared to clear the remaining offices. Asou opened a door slowly and peeked in. Seeing a squad of PLA soldiers inside shooting out the window, Asou rolled a grenade in and closed the door. Upon hearing the blast and yells, Asou kicked the door open and shot the remaining soldiers in the room.

The next door offices were empty.

Asou led his squad up to the roof. He opened the roof door slowly and peeked out. Asou wasn't sure how, but the PLA had managed get a Type 85 twin barreled 23mm AA gun, a Chinese version of the Soviet ZU-23, on the roof.

"There's an AA gun up here. Crew of three manning the gun and I can see a sniper shooting at the street," said Asou. "Fire and engineer teams spread out and assault and command teams engage anything in their way. Move fast and don't let them open fire on us… go!"

Hanai and Shimazu spread out their teams facing the AA gun. One man became aware of their presence, but was shot. In a matter of seconds they secured the roof. Shimazu and Reimaru began to vandalize the Type 85 by removing the firing pins and warping the barrels to make the weapon quite useless.

Ishida, spotting multiple snipers and sharpshooters on rooftops and upper story windows began to open fire. Kitsumori set up the bipod of his M60E4 on the edge of the roof and began to fire at PLA soldiers. The rest of 5th squad began to try and clear out rooftops and windows from their current position. Harima could see a number of Japanese soldiers lying dead in the streets, but most of 2nd platoon seemed alive. Also a Type 74 medium tank had joined their platoon. Harima then noticed that the incoming fire had ceased.

"Looks like they fell back," said Harima.

"They didn't seem to have a lot of anti-tank weapons so maybe the Type 74 scared them off," speculated Kitsumori.

In a matter of minutes 5th squad was on the street with 4th and 6th squads and the supporting armor from 28th Armor Battalion. They continued towards the next line of defense, where ever that was.

"Attention all units," said an official voice over the radios and headsets, "be advised, hostile aircraft have been detected on radar from the continent. I repeat, hostile aircraft have been detected. Expect Q-5s and J-11s."

"Sounds like their throwing everything they can at us," commented a soldier in 4th squad.

"They know this will be their last stand," said Ishida adjusting his glasses, once again showing his ability to rationalize and break down the situation, "they're going to loss and they know it. Scary thing is they're going to try and take as many of us with them."

"Always the bright ray of sunshine, ain't ya' Uryū?" asked Kurosaki sarcastically.

Ishida just shook his head a little. Others shifted their gear or weapons a little, uncomfortable at the idea of 'Chinese Juggernaut' building up steam.

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**1200 Hours; August 1****st****, 2010; NATO Western Pacific HQ; Yokohama, Japan**

Brigadier General Lennox with Lt. Colonel Shinhachi and Captain Maiwald on either side of him was in the NATO Western Pacific command room. It was a typical war room design, descending tiers with long desks with computers all facing a few large monitors, not unlike the one Shinhachi and Maiwald were in back in Russia, but much more up to date. The obvious difference was that the room was staffed primarily by American and Japanese soldiers, not Russians, Ukrainians, Poles, Chechnyans, Kazakhstanis, and other peoples of the USSR.

"So the Chinese are launching how many planes?" asked Lennox in his stoic tone with touches of arrogances and bitterness.

"About 30 odd squadrons," said a female USAF Lt. Colonel with a sigh of exhaustion, judging by the bags under her eyes she'd been up for a day or two, maybe three.

"Roughly 480 planes," said Lennox giving her a cold stare to which she recoiled slightly. Behind Lennox's back, Shinhachi and Maiwald rolled their eyes and gave the poor woman a smile that says, 'he's just testing you, don't take it personally.'

"Just planes?" asked Maiwald to Shinhachi.

Shinhachi nodded, "They're not gonna' gamble their navy at this point, they're going to deploy it around their own shores."

The main monitor was displaying a map of the Eastern Asian region showing China, a small portion of Japan that was occupied by the communist, North Korea, and occupied South Korea in red and Japan in blue. Soldiers, tanks, artillery, fighter planes, bombers, transport planes, submarines, and various warship classes marked red and blue for the communist and NATO units respectfully. The People's Liberation Navy was staying close to the Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and South China Sea; in other words the PLN was probably expecting a NATO attack on China itself.

"You know, we didn't face the full force of the PLN, why didn't they assemble a larger force?" asked Major Boyd, leader of the 16 assault platoon and also under Lennox's command, searching the tac-map that was displayed on the main monitor.

"Ya' know I'm kinda' pissed that I only just noticed this, but if you look you'll see the PLN has assembled a number of warships in and around Hong Kong (4). That would be an appropriate launching spot for an attack on the Republic of China (Taiwan) (5)," said Shinhachi pointing to a gathering of Chinese warships and amphibious assault transports.

"I see. Another question doesn't the Chinese have a carrier down there?" asked Major Boyd.

"Yeah, the Yaryag Class, it was started in the Ukraine, but it was never finished. It's basically one of the Soviet's Admiral Kuznetsov Class carriers. China hasn't finished it either and they haven't even bought or built planes for it yet. Rumor has it that they have two Kiev Class carriers in their possession (6), but like the Yaryag they don't have fixed wing aircraft on board," explained Shinhachi.

"They are working on buying MiG-29Ks and Su-33s and Su-25UBG (7) from the Soviets," added Maiwald.

"So… we don't have to worry too much about the PLN when we attack Korea?" asked Boyd.

"Right, but we need to worry about the current situation right now," said Maiwald.

"Basically," started Shinhachi with a sigh of exhaustion, "we need to scramble every fighter plane if we don't want to see our ground forces facing death from above."

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**1245 Hours; August 1****st****, 2010; 11km south of PLA HQ; Shinomoseki, Japan**

"Looks like rain," said Abarai staring up at the skies. Indeed large grey clouds were coming in from west, not the kind of heavy that spelled an intense thunderstorm, but the light wispy ones that threatened a mild to medium rain.

"Will that delay air support?" asked Asou to Yamako since he was a former crewman of a helicopter.

"Lightening might discourage the Air Force, but if it's just rain it shouldn't do much. The only problem I can see is that they might have trouble identifying us from the PLA," said Yamako as he pulled out his rain coat from his pack.

Harima, along with anyone else who'd noticed the incoming rain, had pulled out his rain coat. It was a very nice coat. It was same grassy-green, tan, and brown patterned camouflage like their uniform, it was warm, wind proof, water proof, light, had a hood large enough so it could be pulled over the head while wearing a helmet, and it could be stuffed into a compact bag that fit neatly in any standard army pack. It was certainly nicer than anything Harima had owned, other than his motorcycle which was easily the most expensive thing he'd ever had. Than again, some of the military equipment he carried wasn't cheap, but he didn't officially own them either.

"Looks like the Air Force is up in force," said Asou seeing a squadron of Royal Air Force EF-2000 Typhoons. It was the forth or fifth squadron they'd seen in the past 30 minutes, before they'd seen Luftwaffe Typhoons, USAF F-15Cs, and their own Air Force's F-2As and F-15Js.

"They said that some Chinese planes may be operating in the area, but the number of planes we have up makes it look they have than 'a few' planes airborne," said Ishida, mostly to himself.

"2nd platoon, we moving out!" shouted Lt. Hashigawa standing up.

They marched uphill towards the direction of the PLA headquarters. In addition to the two Type 89 IFVs and one Type 74 medium tank, another three Type 74s and two Type 87 AA-vehicles (8) had joined them. The presence of the AA-vehicles was adding to the concern of 5th squad.

They were moving up a street lined with small shops and businesses. Everyone was scanning the buildings, alleys, and rooftops for PLA infantry, expecting to hit their main line of defense.

"Shit," groaned someone. "I don't think those are ours."

What looked like an air battalion, roughly three or four squadrons, was approaching.

"Command, this is Echo 4-1," said Lt. Hashigawa into one of the radiomen's radios, "we have large group of planes coming from the northwest, can you ID?"

"… uh… negative, but there aren't suppose to be a large grouping operating there," responded a command information operator.

"Arigato," said Hashigawa handing back the transmitter to the radioman. He turned to face his platoon and yelled, "Hostile planes inbound! Take cover!"

No waited for him to repeat that order, they ran. The tanks and IFVs backed into alleys to try and conceal themselves, but the crews ditched the vehicles knowing they would be strafed if the PLAF spotted them. Harima looked up to get a better look at the enemy aircraft, PLAF Q-5 Fantan fighter-bombers with two flights of J-10s escorting.

He dashed for any place to hide. He saw a set of doors that led to a store basement. He aimed his M-14E3 and blasted the lock apart, wretched the doors open, and dived down the stairs to where he hoped he'd be safe. He seemed to be alone. He could hear the planes getting closer by the second and the same feeling of overwhelming fear when the PKAF bombers flattened Gimhae International Airport.

He heard the high pitch scream of bombs as the Fantans flew over. He closed his eyes.

**BOOM!**

Harima felt the building shutter and start to collapse. Something heavy hit him and he knew no more.

* * *

That's it for chapter 30. I'll have the next chapter up as soon as I can. I have mid-terms coming up in a couple of weeks so it may not come for a little bit, sorry. I don't know how things will be turning out, but I'll get the next chapter out ASAP. 

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. In my opinion there are too many things named the Type 89. They are multiple weapons and vehicles in the Chinese, Japanese, North Korean, Taiwanese, and South Korean militaries called the Type 89 including rifles, tanks, and vehicles.

2. Most guns come with a strap so it can be slung over someone's back or have the strap draped over someone's shoulder to take some of the weight off the gun. You could have the strap over your shoulder and keep one hand on the trigger and leave the other free. It isn't the most ideal way to fire a gun, but if one hand is busy you can still fire with the other.

3. The stovepipe jam and other jams that involve a cartridge not ejecting or not ejecting properly are the most common types of jams. Fortunately they are also easy to clear, just manually pulled the bolt back and close it to load a good round in the chamber. All automatic or semi-automatic weapons are vulnerable to this.

4. Hong Kong was a small sort of autonomous state in the British Royal Commonwealth on the South China Sea. After World War II all nations were supposed to give up their colonies, but many countries many other arrangements. The United Kingdom of Great Briton made an agreement with the People's Republic of China that the UK could hold onto Hong Kong until a point at which they must had control over to the Chinese central government in Beijing. Hong Kong is slightly independent of the central government. A comparable example for Americans like myself would be Puerto Rico being a territory of the United States, not fully under US control, but not really independent.

5. The Republic of China, commonly known as Taiwan, is a large island located roughly where the East and South China Seas meet and the Pacific Ocean. After the Chinese Civil War a lot of old leaders escaped to Taiwan to avoid Mao Zedong, including Chiang Kai-Shek. China and Taiwan do not get along at all. China chose to back Joseph Stalin while Chiang Kai-Shek chose to back Harry S. Truman and his successor Dwight D. Eisenhower. Like the Republic of Korea, the former West Germany, Israel, and several other nations, the US supplied and trained soldiers from Taiwan and ensured that they had another ally in Asia.

6. The Yaryag is one of the Admiral Kuznetsov carriers. It was never completed and was bought by China. China hasn't completed it either, but seems to be using it as a base form to build their own carrier; no information is currently available on that though. The fact that China own two Kiev Class carriers is purely fiction, India is the only country with on of those carriers. Russia retired them several years ago from their navy.

7. The MiG-29K Fulcrum-D is a variation of the standard MiG-29 Fulcrum for the Soviet Navy; I don't know if it is equipped with folding wings, it's currently only in service with the Indian Navy. The Su-27K Flanker-D, also known as the Su-33 Flanker-D, is a carrier born version of the standard Su-27 Flanker; it does feature folding wings and is in service with the current Russian Navy. The Su-25UBG Frogfoot is a carrier born version fighter-bomber of the standard Su-25 Frogfoot. If you ever see a Russian plane with the letter 'K' after the model number then it is a either a carrier born plane or a navy plane of some kind like a land based anti-submarine plane.

8. The Type 87 self-propelled anti-air vehicle that is used by the Japanese Self-Defense Forces. It is almost an exact replica of the Bundeswehr's Gepard, even with the two 35mm auto-cannons, but I don't know if they feature the surface to air missile upgrade like the Gepard. The Japanese also employ the use of the Type 93 which is almost an exact replica of the US M-1097 Avenger, basically a HMMWV with the back replaced by Type 91 SAMs (or in the US's case FIM-92 Stingers) and sometimes an M2 .50 cal for the vehicles defense.


	31. Chapter 31: Smiting the Embers Part II

Part II is up. My second chapter of 2008, the year the Lockheed-Martin F-35 Lightening II is to officially enter service in the United States Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps; I think it is also entering service in the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy this year too.

I am so sorry about the delay, but I think it was really necessary for me to edit my early chapters. I didn't realize how much my writing has improved since I started writing this.

I was also wondering why so many of my readers **are not Americans** like me, but English speaking people form **other countries** like Australia, the UK, Argentina, and Canada. For some reason I seem to be a big hit among **Canadian readers**, but I have no idea why? … maybe School Rumble is more popular there or something?

A special thank you to savageking for adding my story to your favorites. Also a thank you to whoever sent me that other review who calls himself or herself asdf.

I don't own School Rumble, Bleach, Full Metal Panic, or any other anime/manga I may have mentioned in my story. Please review and maybe tell a friend.

* * *

**Chapter 31: Smiting the Embers Part II**

"It's not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight

But the size of the fight in the dog"

Dwight David Eisenhower, former European Theater commander and US President

**???? Hours; August? 2010?; location unknown**

'Where am I?' was the first thought that came to mind. He could feel he was on a surface, so he was defiantly somewhere. He opened his eyes and saw it was midday. He sat up and looked around, he was in a field of tall grass. A low very thick white mist was preventing him from seeing further than roughly 75 meters.

He looked down and saw he was mostly okay so he decided to walked around and figure out where he was.

"This doesn't look like Japan," he said to himself. It was mild here, light breeze and plenty of sun, but that was strange since it wasn't affecting the fog and was somehow shining through it without the sun being visible. He walked until he reached a road, a plain dirt road.

"Where am I?"

"Excuse me," said a voice behind Harima that made him jump, he thought he was alone. He politely stepped aside for the man. He walked past and Harima saw in shock it was a North Korean soldier.

More soldiers were walking past, American, British, French, Turkish, German, Japanese, Chinese, North Korean, etc. Even civilians past him, all were walking towards the mist and disappearing in it.

"Where are we?" he asked a passing French soldier.

"I don't know," was all he said as he walked past.

"Where are you going?" he asked a female German soldier.

"On," she simply said. It just stuck Harima that it was very strange that they were such a collection of people walking past him, let alone the fact they all understood him and vise versa.

He looked around and watched people merely walk past him without looking around or talking. He decided to walk with them deeper into the mist.

"Hey," said a voice grabbing his shoulder stopping him.

"Nani?"

"It's not you turn yet, go back," said a Chinese major pointing with his thumb over his shoulder.

"I don't understand," said Harima; nothing was making sense any more.

The major gave Harima an understanding smile, "It's okay, just head back. You're time hasn't come."

The major nodded, padded Harima on the shoulder, and walked on into the mist. Harima watched him go. He stared, looked over his shoulder in the direction he was told to go, turn to face that way, and began to walk.

A fog began to engulf him, but he kept walking. He couldn't see anything any more. Harima felt himself start to float away. Slowly, he felt colder, he his face felt wet.

**???? Hours; August 1****st****, 2010; somewhere in Shinomoseki, Japan**

Harima opened his eyes. Rain was falling on his face. He was lying in the destroyed remains of the basement. The whole building seemed to have collapsed when a bomb hit it, but enough support beams had held and kept it from crushing him. As he began to move he heard people outside screaming in pain, calling for medics, and yelling out for missing comrades.

Harima stood up; he was bruised, but alive. He pulled off his helmet and saw a big dent in it where a brick or something must have knocked him out. He put it back on until for now, he'd order a new one later. He was told helmets weren't much help for stopping bullets, but it just saved his ass and he was grateful for it.

He started to climb out of the basement, a hard feat since the stairs were blocked. There was a part where the ceiling was gone and he could see the sky.

"Hello! Anybody out there!" he shouted.

He heard footsteps. A woman dressed in the armored corps uniform stood at the edge of basement.

"You okay?" she asked.

"I think so, but I'm stuck," Harima said.

"Hang on, I'll get some rope or something," she said before running off. With nothing else to do, Harima sat on a flat chuck of concrete which made a descent stool for the time being. He looked up into the grey sky and allowed cool rain to fall on his weary face. He wished he could go home… where ever the hell was. He frowned, he'd never really knew a real home in years. He was more of a wanderer, like the samurai with the crossed-shaped scar and red hair… what was his name (1)? Anyways, he'd gotten a letter from his 'dear cousin' telling him she was off to war herself. Asou, Hanai, Kitsumori, Harima, and anyone else who knew Mai nearly blown their stacks until they read she was staying with the Tsukamoto sisters which seemed okay with them for now.

"Hey, caught!" called the woman from before. She tossed a length of thick rope and Harima jogged over to it. He tugged on it to make sure it was secured and then started to scale the cinderblock wall to the street level.

Harima began to wander around looking for his squad. He knew he saw Hanai dive underneath a space under a concrete porch. He checked and found an unconscious Hanai. Harima pulled Hanai out from under and saw he had a bruise on his had where something must have hit him.

"Oi, Haruki! You still with us?" yelled Harima into Hanai's ear.

"… ughh… what happen?" groaned Hanai.

"Fantans bombed us," said Harima.

"Nan-ji (what time is it)?" asked Hanai slowly sitting up.

Harima shrugged, "My watch got smashed during the air raid."

A plane roared over head and everyone ducked. They relaxed a little when they saw it was a pair of US F-15Cs. It was then that Harima noticed that NATO planes where still dogfighting with PLAF planes.

"You hear that?" asked Hanai. Harima listened and heard the echoing sound of rolling thunder of jet engines. He recognized them as something highly similar to the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress that bombed a good portion of the Pusan.

"Stratofortresses?" asked Kitsumori who had wandered over to them.

"Iē, they don't sound like the engines that the USAF use… they sound like Chinese planes… uh… they have a model based on it called the Xian H-6 Badger," said Harima. He pulled out one of the recognition guides and filled through it. "Yeah, they do."

"Oh, fuck," groaned Hanai. "They're dropping bombs."

They looked towards the center of city. Like most of Japan, the areas nearest the coastline were relatively flat and got more mountainous further inland; in other words they were on a slop and could see a could portion of the city. They could vaguely hear the whistling of bombs in the distance. Fire erupted in long continuous lines from the carpet bombing run.

"From what I've heard, the bad news is they're bombing Shinomoseki and Kitakyushu, the good news is we intercepted most of the bombers," said Kitsumori.

"There you guys," said a female voice in relief. A young woman with hair slightly burned light brown hair was walking jogging towards them. Her hair was tied in a bun, but it seemed to be falling apart.

"Didn't know where you all went," panted Jupei. Apart from the burnt look of her uniform, she appeared to be fine, better than Kitsumori, Hanai, or Harima who were bruised and bleeding slightly.

"You all okay?" she asked.

"Mostly," said Hanai. "You seen SSgt. Asou?"

"Hai, he's trying to contact Captain Hitsuaya."

"We lose anyone?" asked Harima.

"… the new guy… Private Hitsayo was killed," she said looking down. "Auto-cannons from the Q-5s tore him apart."

"Damn…," muttered Kitsumori. No one spoke. No one could say anything, because no one knew Hitsayo Taira.

After a few minutes, Hanai asked, "Nan-ji?"

Jupei pulled back her left sleeve a little and check her watch, "16:30 (2)."

After getting organized, they followed Jupei to where Asou was speaking into the radio.

"Hai… hai… I understand Captain, we'll move out tomorrow," said Asou in the radio. He turned to face his squad, "Good to see you guys alive. We're stopping the advance for now and we'll attack first thing in the morning."

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**0645 Hours; August 2****nd****, 2010; 15 km south of the PLA HQ; Shinomoseki, Japan**

The sun was just starting to shine and NATO was just starting to mobilize. Harima could hear shells from the warships and batteries. Groups of fighter-bombers had been flying around since about 0600 hours; Fairchild-Republic A-10 Thunderbolt-IIs by the sound of them, and in the early sunlight Harima could see their rather unique silhouettes.

5th squad was moving with 2nd platoon towards the People's Liberation Army HQ, which at the rate their luck was going, they would reach the defensive line any second now. They always had enough luck to avoid dying, but not enough to avoid seeing death.

Type 74 medium tanks, Type 73 APCs, and Type 89 IFVs were pushing up a wide four-lane street towards the Chinese HQ. Two Type 87 AA-vehicles and two Type 93 mobile-SAMs (3) were with them was an AA shield from further PLAF attacks. Even if the Chinese didn't manage to fight their way trough the combined NATO air forces, not for a lack of trying, the PLA still had a couple squadrons of helicopters. Many of them suspected the Chinese were ready to throw the last of their tanks and artillery at them too for good measure.

"They're almost finished," said Ishida.

"Hai," agreed various members of 5th squad. It was clear that the mass air assault was a desperate gamble of the communists. It also didn't work. NATO was still advancing. The Chinese were cut off from all means of supply lines and this would probably mean this is the end of the communists' hold on the Yamaguchi Prefecture and soon too be followed by their defeat in Japan. This would be NATO's first decisive victory in the Korean War. In Harima's mind, it didn't seem real to be this close to victory, something he hadn't experience unless you counted the successful retreat and abandonment of the Korean Peninsula and Asian mainland which didn't come across as a NATO victory for anybody.

The ground was now leveling out. The buildings were thinning out and there were a number of vacant lots.

**POW! BANG!**

Three Type 73 towed 100mm anti-tank guns opened up from camouflaged positions at the edges of the lots where small trees and shrubs grew. Riflemen and machine gunners also started to shoot from those spots. That same area was in a sunken road which gave the PLA soldiers some protection from incoming fire. It was difficult to spot the soldiers and gunners, other than their muzzle flashes, but the AT guns' barrels were sticking out of the shrubs. Also smoke from the AT shells being fired made them easy marks.

"Yankee 8, I need mortars on position Augustus 89, Omega 30, over," shouted Kaoji in his trusty radio.

"This is Yankee 8, ya'll stand by, ordinance is in bound, over," said a voice in English with a southern accent.

Pops in the distance singled the firing of US M252 81mm mortars somewhere to the southwest. The screaming was heard as the mortars started arcing downwards. Shrapnel, dirt, and flames leaped up where fragmentation shells hit.

"This is Yankee 8, ceasing fire mission. Yankee 8 out ya'll."

"Incoming!"

**BOOM!**

Chinese artillery was now shelling their position. The barrage was short lived and ceased after only a half a dozen 155s. A few one of the Type 74s was lost, but nothing else was destroyed… not including a few telephone poles and a lamp post.

"4th squad advance up the street. 5th squad move into that construction site. 6th squad, follow me!" shouted Lt. Hashigawa.

Asou moved forwards towards a tall wooden fence that lined a three story building that was under construction. Asou rammed the fenced and bounced off it. He landed hard on his ass. Harima rammed the fence and thanks to his later size, he was able to plow through it.

Harima landed face first into a large pile of dirt that was probably placed in its current location for removal by dump trucks. Harima pushed himself off the dirt pile and picked up his M-14E3. He followed Hanai around the dirt pile aiming towards the partially finished building.

Ikuro led her assault team forward with Kurosaki and Abarai behind. The building's third floor wasn't finished nor was the roof. Parts of the first floor didn't have floors, so it was the ground floor that needed most attention. Ikuro stood outside of the entrance, which didn't have doors installed yet, her back was to the wall. She slowly poked around the corner and looked inside.

Suddenly a QJZ-89 heavy machine gun started to fire at 4th squad as they were moving up the street.

Ikuro looked straight up in shock and said, "… they're right above us… they have no idea were here… come on, follow me."

They quietly went upstairs. Ikuro was leading with her Colt M4A1 carbine raised. She leaned around the corners of the stairwell while simultaneously wielding her carbine to the area in front of her. Kurosaki and Abarai follow suit with their Towa Type 89 assault rifles.

They carefully emerged on the first floor and did a sweep of the immediate area. It was clear. They moved down a hall that was covered in new plywood that was still blonde and with the company's name and the serial numbers visibly stamped on it in black ink. It occurred to them that if they got into a firefight here the plywood wouldn't stop bullets or grenades.

In a room with part of the floor waiting to be put in and one wall was only a frame. Ikuro reached for a grenade and then stopped remembering that the walls wouldn't protect them from the shrapnel.

She flicked the switch on her carbine to full-auto and the other two copied her. They quietly moved in behind the PLA machine gun squad and spread out. In a short burst of automatic fire the PLA machine gun squad keeled over dead after having a few 5.52s pumped into their backs.

Meanwhile outside, Asou heard the shots firing fired. Seeing that the Chinese machine gun was now silent he managed to put two and two to together.

The he heard chopper rotors.

"Shit, that ain't ours," stated Reimaru.

"Sounds like a utility chopper… scratch that, sounds like multiple utility choppers," said Yamako scanning the skies towards the northeast. Three Z-8 flew in, their doorway gunners firing a mounted machine gun of some kind.

Asou adjusted the microphone of his personal short-ranged radio closer to his mouth and said, "Ikuro is that MG still working?"

"Hai, we didn't damage," responded Ikuro.

"Three Z-8 are inbound and are gonna' be right in front of you in 13 second. Make use of it," he ordered.

Kurosaki got on the QJZ-89 and Abarai picked up the ammo belt in his hands to feed the gun (4). Ikuro leaned outside and saw the incoming choppers. She told Kurosaki what to expect and he braced himself.

The first chopper circled over and Kurosaki fired at the doorway. He saw the gunner fall out after being struck in the chest. Kurosaki under the instruction of Ikuro fired 12.7x108mm cartridges at the cockpit. The Z-8 started to slowly spin and from what they could see the pilot was slumped over the controls.

The second and third choppers flew by and their gunners fired at the building the assault team was in. Ikuro, Kurosaki, and Abarai ran for their lives, very aware that the bullets were ripping through partially completed building.

A stream of red 35mm rounds streaked through the skies. A Type 87 AA-vehicle was doing its best to shoot down the Z-8s. A couple of 35mm rounds caught a Z-8 in the tail and severed the shaft that connected the stabilizer rotor to the turbine. Without a stabilizer rotor, the chopper began to spin and crashed into another building under construction.

"That's gonna' cost someone," said Kitsumori. Some of the others grinned or chuckled a little.

"The other chopper is buggin' out," said Shimazu watching it drop IR flares to prevent a Type 91 SAM from shooting it down. The missile zoomed down with the flares and the Z-8 escaped.

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**1157 Hours; August 2****nd****, 2010; 1km south of the PLA HQ; Shinomoseki, Japan**

A college campus on the northwestern part of Shinomoseki, near the city limits, was being used as the People's Liberation Army's Headquarters for their combat operations in the southern parts of the island of Honshu. Up north, US GIs were closing in. To the west were British airborne infantry. To the east were additional US soldiers and Japanese paratroopers. To the south were German soldiers, US soldiers, and Japanese soldiers.

The People's Liberation Army's surviving soldiers, vehicles, helicopters, APCs, tanks, artillery, and officers were completely surrounded by NATO.

"Attention, Dogwood Company, Echo Company, and Foxglove Company, this is Major Daijin," said the major's voice over the radio, "28th Infantry Battalion halt."

Everyone looked at each other, but did as they were told. They assembled in a park. They were in sniping range of the Chinese HQ.

"Why are we stopping?" asked Harima to Hanai. Hanai only shrugged.

"Attention all soldiers of the People's Liberation Army of the People's Republic of China!" boomed a voice in Mandarin Chinese over a loud speak from somewhere. "You are completely surrounded! We request you take this ultimatum seriously, put down your arms or else! You have one hour to respond! Any hostile action against us before hand will be considered your response!"

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**1258 Hours; August 2****nd****, 2010; 470m south of the PLA HQ, Shinomoseki; Yamaguchi Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

"Two minutes," said Jupei after checking her watch.

"Get ready, they're not going to surrender now," said Asou checking to make sure Type 89 assault rifle is loaded and ready.

"One minute," said Jupei standing up and un-slinging her rifle off her back.

A platoon of Japanese tanks was getting ready to roll. Japanese machine gunners were loading NATO 12.7x99mm rounds in their tripod mounted heavy MGs.

"30 seconds."

A few Type 60 SX 81mm mortar carriages opened their hatches to reveal mortars. Harima watched as their respective crews held a mortar round in the muzzle (5) of the barrel, waiting for the order to fire.

"5,4,3,2,1, time's up," said Jupei looking up at them.

There was a brief moment of dead silence. It was as if nothing was moving in the world.

**BOOM! POW! BAM! BOOM! BANG!**

Now it was as if the world was exploding. The mortar carriages were opening fire, so were the tanks, machine gunners, recoilless guns, AT guns, TOW launchers, APCs, IFVs, and small arms were all shooting too. Far away they could hear the entire US 215th Artillery Battalion was opening fire. The US and Japanese warships in the port were firing Tomahawk cruise missiles and 5 inch shells. Hanai was thinking it was only a matter of time before aircraft were adding their payload to the inferno.

Harima, Kitsumori, Hanai, Jupei, Reimaru, Shimazu, Ikuro, Kurosaki, Abarai, Yamako, Kaoji, Ishida, Shino, and Asou stared opened mouthed in dumbstruck awe of the mass of fire and raining steel.

After 5 minutes of shelling, the barrage ceased.

"Attention 81st Regiment, advance now! Advance now!" ordered someone in the 6th Division HQ via the radio.

Captain Hitsugaya waved Echo Company forward. He, closely followed by 1st Lt. Matsumoto, were leading the company's advance. Some of the 28th Armor Battalion's tanks were moving along the road parallel to the park and into the campus.

The wall that once marked the college's outer boundaries was a pile of rubble. Echo Company charged over it. As they came over the former wall, they came under sporadic gun fire from the surviving PLA soldiers. A Japanese Type 89 IFV took a hit and was destroyed by a PP-89 AT rocket launcher. The soldier with the PP-89 was shot down by Ishida's M-21.

Harima pulled out his AT4 and fired a sabot at an immobile Type 80 medium tank. It took he hit to the side of the turret. Harima saw the blast of flame and chunks of metal fly off.

The PLA's defenses were far from organized, but desperate. USAF A-10 Thunderbolt-IIs soared over pelted the PLA's surviving tanks with AGM-65 Mavericks and GUA-8A 30mm gatling fire. RAF Tornado GR4s were circling over head in a sickeningly similar fashion to vultures.

It was in short, sheer chaos.

Asou was leading 5th squad towards a badly damaged building that the Chinese were fighting very hard to protect. A Type 90 heavy tank was slowly move on their right to protect them.

Asou watched as a 120mm shell from the Type 90 sent Chinese machine gunners flying from a four story corner room.

Shimazu placed a C2 charge on the door.

"We're gonna' frag and clear!" yelled Asou over the roar of fighter-bombers, shelling, and helicopters.

**POW!**

Asou was about to pulled the pin on the M67 he was holding when he saw that the door wasn't open. Undaunted, Shimazu placed a more powerful C4 charge on the heavy steel door.

**BOOM!**

The door was blown in off its hinges.

Asou throw the M67 frag grenade in. When it went off he yelled, "Breaching, breaching!"

They went through the door one by one and spread out to avoid accidentally shooting each other in the back. They were in a gym. It had a few large Chinese flags hanging from the high ceiling.

Several cross beams had fallen and some of the large heavy ceiling lamps. Some Chinese officers and guards were mounting a last stand against 5th squad. They were firing Typr-03 assault rifles and QSZ-92 handguns. Some had the Type-85 sub-machine guns.

Shootouts at these close quarters were intense and dangerous. Harima could feel his adrenaline pumping through his entire body as he blasted away with his M-14E3 at full-auto. He heard a click and saw that the bolt had locked in the open position. Seeing he was out of ammo he reached for a fresh clip, but a shot from a Chinese lieutenant QSZ-92 got his attention. Harima drew out his Colt M1911A1 and fired. A .45 caliber armor piercing cartridge punctured the helmet he was wearing. Harima saw blood and brain matter and the lieutenant's eyes cloud over as his knees buckle.

Hanai was firing away with his Type 89 assault rifle. He was shooting at a doorway to stop PLA soldiers from reinforcing the soldiers already in the gym. Kitsumori was doing the same.

"Cease fire!" shouted Asou. They didn't immediately stop, but that was because they couldn't hear Asou at first.

A white cloth was raised on the end of a random chunk of metal. 5th squad slowly walked forwards to investigate.

They found two soldiers, one rifleman and a brigadier general.

"Holy shit… I think we've captured the Chinese commander," said a dumbfounded Kaoji.

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**1300 Hours; August 2****nd****, 2010; a local cafe, Yagami; Kanagawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

Mai was sitting in the café that Yakumo was working at. Mai had finished summer school nearly two weeks previous and since she has moved in with the Tsukamoto sisters she spent a lot of time either with Tenma at her various odd jobs or with Yakumo at her job.

Mai watched as Yakumo was serving people. Today Yakumo was wearing the light purple kimono. As she walked around, men's eyes followed her closely. Mai understood that Yakumo was extremely attractive, but she didn't like the men seemed to stare at her breasts, legs, hips, and rear.

"-sigh-, I wonder what it would be like to have guys notice me?" wondered Mai out loud. She was still a little young to be attracted boys, but thanks to Korea's great internet access she was well aware of 'adult relationships'.

Mai looked up at the TV that was mounted on the wall in one corner and eyes widened in shock, "YAKUMO-SEMPAI!"

"Nani?" said Yakumo as she ran as quickly as possible in a kimono.

Mai pointed and everyone in the café looked up at the screen and their jaws dropped.

"And now to repeat our top story," said a newscaster. "NATO forces half an hour ago received the Chinese surrender of Shinomoseki. Only one communist stronghold remains in Japan and resistance is quickly collapsing."

The image changed to a destroyed college and everyone in the room gasped when they saw familiar faces.

"Here we see 5th squad; 2nd platoon; Echo Company of 27th Infantry Battalion is escorting PLA Brig. General Wei commander of Chinese forces in southern Honshu."

They zoomed in at the group of triumphant looking soldiers. "5th squad entered a firefight with Chinese senior officers and shot many of the in the shootout. A General Wei's aid surrendered on behalf of his superior who was wounded in the battle."

A huge smile spread across her face as she saw he brothers' looks of happiness at their victory. Yakumo too was smiling, to see they were still alive.

"What are they saying?" asked someone in the room.

"I think they're saying 'we won the battle and we're going to win the war'," said Yakumo who was fairly good at reading lips.

"They're coming home," said Mai quietly to Yakumo, they both smiled.

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**1330 Hours; August 2****nd****. 2010; Chinese HQ, Shinomoseki; Yamaguchi Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

The sounds of shelling, gunfire, and screams of pain were no replaced by equally loud cheering, celebrating, and yells of victory.

Harima, Hanai, Kitsumori, and Jupei had lost all sense of dignity and were dancing around for joy. Even people like Asou and Ishida who were normally stoic and never made a seen with antics were too cheering like raving lunatics.

"Attention all units, this is command," said an official sounding voice over the radio.

Everyone froze. Dead silence fell as people prepared for the worst.

"PLA Commander, Lt. General Zhanghe, was killed in a shootout with the Royal Canadian Army's 93rd Infantry Battalion. Surviving PKA and PLA soldiers are surrendering. As of 1324 Hours, Kitakyushu was liberated. The Federation of Japan is now completely under NATO control. The Empire and Prime Minister both wish to extend their gratitude and congratulations to all of you."

Dead silence filled the air as the final words were spoken by that person.

"We won!"

The transmission ended.

It seemed like the entire Yamaguchi Prefecture shook in the resounding roar of excitement and triumph.

"We won! We won! We won!" people were chanting. It was NATO's first decisive victory in the Korean War.

Harima looked up at the sky. They won… and they would get to go home for a few days.

* * *

I was wondering when the invasion of Japan would end. Now for a brief lull in the fighting while the soldiers of 5th squad get to go home. I hope ya'll enjoyed chapter. Sorry for the long delay, but that's life ain't it? I'm in the middle of mid-terms so the next chapter may take a little while too, but I'm not expecting the same delay like with this chapter.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. The character in question is (if you haven't figured it out) Kenshin Himura from the famous manga and anime Rurouni Kenshin. Harima doesn't have the best memory, but if you've seen School Rumble you'll know that already, so he just can't remember it off hand.

2. A number of countries outside of the US like to use the 24 hour clock instead of the 12 hour clock used commonly in United States, Canada, and Briton. The Japanese like to use both the 12 and 24 clocks. For those of you who don't know, the 24 hour clock is like military time, but you would say things like 13 O'clock (1:30 pm), 18:30 (4:30 pm) or 22 O'clock (10:00 pm). The JR Lines, a group of privately owned Japanese railroads; use the 24 hour clock for convinces sake. You don't risk mixing up am or pm like with the 12 hour clock.

3. The Type 93 is a self-propelled Surface to Air Missile launcher. It is basically a Japanese production version of the US's M1097 Avenger. The Type 93 is made by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

4. A machine gun team usually has two soldiers. One soldier carries the machine gun. The second soldier carries the tripod. Both soldiers carry the ammo and sometimes there is a third soldier who carries additional ammo. When the gun is set up the gunner operates and fires the gun. The assistant gunner holds the ammunition belt and helps feed it in; even though it feeds automatically, by helping feed the gun it can help prevent jamming. The third person helps by being a spotter for the MG or watching their backs for flanking infantry.

5. The mortar (with a few exceptions) is traditionally a muzzle loading weapon. Basically you removed whatever safety device in on the shell, drop it down the tube, a propellant of some kind goes off to propel the shell out of the barrel, and gravity takes care of the rest.


	32. Chapter 32: Home

Another chapter, ain't it great? Right?

Sorry about the delay... again.

Well thank you to my readers. Also thank you to my Canadian readers; I don't know why you seem to like my story more than my follow Americans, but thanks.

This chapter is gonna' concentrate on the character Jack Shinhachi. He is a fictional character loosely based on a person I know. In fact most of the people in this chapter will be based on the weirdoes I know. Sometimes I feel like I'm trapped in a sitcom; sometimes I can just hear in my head a laugh-track (I'm not crazy; it just takes a little imagination).

I don't own School Rumble, Bleach, or Full Metal Panic. Please review and/or tell a friend.

* * *

**Chapter 32: Home**

"Who says you can't go home?"

A song by Bon Jovi

(please assume the following conversations are in English unless stated otherwise)

**0511 Hours; August 5****th****, 2010; Portland International Airport, Portland; Oregon, United States of America**

"This is your captain speaking," said a voice over the intercom, "we are now preparing to make our final descent on Portland International Airport."

Jack Shinhachi, who was sitting in coach with his laptop, he packed his laptop away and returned his tray and seat to the upright position.

He was dressed in a plain white T-shirt with a cotton dark brown plaid button-up long sleeve shirt over it. He was wearing slightly faded blue jeans and sneakers. Under his seat was a tan-brown overcoat. He didn't like to wear his uniform in public; it drew a lot of attention. He never liked eyes on him at home. While on a job he didn't mind, but off the job it made him very self-conscious.

He heard the rushing noise as the plane began to slow down for the runway. The man next to Shinhachi started hyperventilating. Shinhachi who was an originally a paratrooper didn't mine flying… or jumping out of a plane in full combat gear over a supposed enemy territory to be surrounded and cut off from friendly lines.

The plane jerked violently as it landed on the runway. The man next to Shinhachi was say, "oh my god," over and over while Shinhachi idly read his newspaper.

"Oh my god," gasped the man.

"Oh my god… they're making another Rocky movie," said Shinhachi, quite indifferent to the man's obvious fear of flying.

"Ladies and gentlemen," said a pilot who spoke with the exact same voice all pilots seemed to speak with, "we, on behalf of United Airlines would like to be the first to welcome you the lovely city of Portland, current time being 5:21 am, and to welcome you to the United States of America."

Shinhachi exited the plane with his backpack and a large computer case. He walked down the concourse full of international flights to Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, and a few other places in the South Pacific. There were also a few flights to Canada, but Canada wasn't too far away so most people chose to drive or take a train rather than spend money on a flight.

He approached the crowded customs line. Shinhachi turned right and went into a completely deserted line with a sign marked:

United States

Federal Government

And

Military

Personal Only

ID Must Be Presented With Passports

This line had more heavily armed guards since people coming through here could be bringing in arms legally.

"Passport and ID please," said a middle aged African-American man dressed in the dark navy blue US Customs uniform.

Shinhachi placed his United States passport and removed his military ID from his wallet and placed it on the counter. The ID had his face on it and said:

US Army

Service: 1st Special Operational Delta-Detachment

Name: John Saito Shinhachi

Rank: Lieutenant Colonel

ID: USA21002739

On Shinhachi's passport that he handed over to the guard it read:

Country: United States of America

Residence: Kirkland, WA

Name: John Saito Shinhachi

Date of Birth: June 17, 1990

"What was the purpose of your visit to Japan?" asked the costumes officer.

"There is a war on," said Shinhachi stoically.

"Yeah, yeah, but I gotta' ask these things," said the man apologetically.

"I understand," said Shinhachi with the traces of a smile.

"Why did you come to Portland and not Sea-Tac (1)? You're passport says you live in Washington State."

"This was the only flight I could get at the time."

"Any weapons?"

"Yes," said Shinhachi as he placed a Colt M1911A1 .45 semi-automatic, Glock P-21 .45 semi-auto, Glock P-18 9x19mm parabellum semi-auto, and a Bennelli M3T 12 gauge shotgun. He also placed the proper licenses and papers as a member of US Special Operation Command to be carrying these weapons.

"That's a lot of firepower."

"We are fighting a war."

"Yeah… well, welcome back Lt. Colonel Shinhachi."

Shinhachi took a taxi to the Portland train station. According to his Uncle Robert who worked as a senior official in the US Department of Transportation; Washington State Division, he said it built by the Great Northern Railroad. Now it was owned by Amtrak, a bit of a sick joke compared to the former railroads of the United States. America once had hundreds of railroads, now there were only had about seven major operators. West of the Mississippi River was the Southern Pacific Railroad, Union Pacific Railroad, Burlington Northern Railroad, and Santa Fe Railway. East of the Mississippi River was CSX, Conrail, and Norfolk South.

Kinda' sad to think all the former railroads collapsed into those few.

Anyways, he bought a ticket for the Coastal Starlight, an express train that ran from Los Angeles to Seattle, but made stops at major cities along the way. Portland was the only stop it made in the state.

A pair of Amtrak Dash-9 diesel engines pulled in a string of double-deck passenger cars into the station. Shinhachi boarded the train and found a seat on the upper floor of one of the cars. He was bored. He wasn't use to traveling without his idiot sidekick, which he meant with love. Captain Jason Maiwald was on a different flight to visit relatives of his in Germany before heading back home.

Shinhachi wished he could sleep, but he was a chronic insomniac and had great difficulty forcing himself to sleep. In fact he didn't sleep, it could be days before he slept. In the past he took pills, but drug induced sleep was difficult to wake from and wouldn't very desirable in SOCOM… or any halfway competent military corps.

It was a long train ride, but Shinhachi had loved train rides; he only wished they were as clean and nice as the trains he rode in Germany and Japan.

After a couple of hours the train pulled into King Street Station, Seattle. Everyone that was on board got off. Some were transferring to the train to Vancouver, British Colombia; Canada; others were transferring to trains that would go to various parts of the state. Most were staying in Seattle.

He walked through the small train station that once sat in the shadow of King Dome Stadium, which was replaced by Safeco Stadium that was built next door. Part of the stadium was built over the tracks and the stadium owners had to put up a sign over one of the exits that warned of passing trains. As of date, no one has been run over by a train while leaving Safeco, home of the Seattle Mariners.

Shinhachi walked over to a public locker. He placed the small orange key in the lock and opened it. He pulled out set of car keys and a ticket and left the station. He walked outside to a fenced off lot. He showed the attendant the ticket and the attendant took him to his car. Shinhachi got into a Chevrolet HHR.

He didn't know much about cars, just that it was made in 2007. It was dark navy blue, the same colors the navy painted their Corsairs and Hellcats during World War II.

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**1000 Hours; August 5****th****, 2010; Washington Athletics Club (WAC), downtown Seattle; Washington State, United States of America**

"Serbian soldiers, now calling themselves Yugoslavians, have completed their invasion of Bosnia. They are now launching an attack on Slovenia and Croatia. Italy and Austria, who both border Slovenia, have moved troops to their borders. This is NPR (National Public Radio) World Report," said a newscaster.

Shinhachi pulled into the parking garaged of the Washington Athletics Club, commonly known as the WAC (2). It was primarily a hotel, but there was also a major athletics facility, eating, and had other things too. His sister's law firm and mother's advertising company had held meetings here before. Needless to say, his family members had club member cards for eating, exercise, etc.

He walked past through the main lobby. It was a bright room with chandelier and red felt carpet. One of the desk clerks recognized Shinhachi and nodded in greeting; Shinhachi raised his hand and waved slightly. He got into an elevator and to the 12th floor to a café that he hoped was still serving breakfast. He got out and walked down to a café in the corner of the building.

He grabbed a tray and piled on food. He gave the cashier his member card and then walked over to a booth by window. He pulled out a copy of the Seattle Times and placed on the table so he could read while eating. Just before he finished eating someone sat down at across from him in the same booth. He looked up in surprise.

"Hi," said a girl in a cheery voice. She was very pretty. Very thin, but not in an unhealthy way, just petite… and curvy. She had long brownish-black hair that was currently in a loose knot on the back of her head, green eyes with specs of blue, and a small smattering of barely noticeable freckles.

Shinhachi was speechless. He hadn't expected to see **her,** this soon after getting home. He didn't know what to say other than, "Hi… Emma."

Emma Hannah Heckler, age 20, born in Kirkland, WA. She was the great-grandniece of the Edmund Heckler, one of the co-founders of the German gun manufacturer Heckler & Koch Firearms. Her family, like his, was very wealthy. Her father still worked for Heckler & Koch and sold guns to the American and Canadian armies from a Seattle based office.

"You look horrible Jack," she said both bluntly and sweetly.

"So do you," said Shinhachi bluntly with raised eyebrow. Her normally straight shiny hair was sticking out in odd places and there were bags under her eyes. "You haven't been sleeping well."

"Neither have you," she said avoiding the subject.

"I'm a chronic insomniac and I've been fighting a war ya' know. It's not that surprising I'm losing sleep. What's your excuse?" he asked forcefully; he didn't know what was wrong with Emma and he was one of her best friends so it was his responsibility to find out.

"Nothing," she said dismissively with the wave of her hand.

"Did you get in a fight with Gin?" Shinhachi asked. Virginia Emily Lassiter, called Ginny by most and Gin by Shinhachi, was Emma's best friend, sidekick, and partner in crime.

"Of course not," she said. "Can't we talk about something else?"

"No," said Shinhachi flatly.

"Scheisser (shithead; in German)," muttered Emma under her breath, she spoke fluent English and German. She liked to use German words in her sentences. She was actually the person who taught Shinhachi to speak German in exchange for him teaching her Japanese.

"Did you not get a good part in August production?" asked Shinhachi ignoring her previous comment. Emma loved three things: Anime, anything Japanese, and acting.

"Nein (no)… I got dumped… again," she said with a heavy sigh.

Jack Shinhachi was silent, letting her talk and getting her problems off her chest. Her, finding her ex-boyfriend with another girl. Her, fighting with him. Her, literally knocking out a few of his teeth. In his opinion, the guy should be afraid since Emma had practice martial arts with him and Maiwald since the age of 14 and her family ran one of the biggest gun companies in the world; it went without saying she owned guns and knew how to handle them well. He'd also taught her a thing or two about shooting a gun… and SMG… and assault rifle… and sniper rifle.

"So I beat the shit of him," said Emma matter of factly while tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, "I used a takedown punch to his stomach to immobilize him… and a few other punches… and kicks."

"What now?"

"_Was_ (what; in German)?" Emma asked blankly.

"What now? Are you okay? Is there anything I can do?"

She smiled in a way that made Jack melt. He'd never told anyone, but he had been in love with this girl, now woman, for years. He didn't care how tired he was, how bad his headaches were, how much his shoulder ached after being slammed into a wall courtesy of a PLA 155mm shell, or anything, he cared about her and only her. He wanted to die seeing that smile… even if her teeth were slightly discolored, but so were his so what did he care?

"I don't know really… what about you?" asked Emma.

Jack frowned and shook his head, "I'm not seeing anybody."

"What about that nice blonde I saw you talking with before you left home?" she asked.

"We weren't going out… we were just meet and were … um… having political differences let just say."

"_Was_ (what)?"

"She was a neo-Nazi and I was telling her to go to hell before I sent her there personally."

"Oh… well… mmmm," Emma stuttered, clearly at a loss for what to say. "Oh, wait, I know!"

She had jumped to her feet and Jack immediately sought to head her off. "Oh no you don't Emma, you're not fixing me up… again."

"Awww," she pouted cutely, "but I know this girl who is…"

"No, Non, Nein, Iē, Njet (3)," said Shinhachi saying no in English, French, German, Japanese, and Russian respectively. "These things never worked out!"

"Are you done?" she asked in the pouting wiseass sort of way that always got him to smile. It never ceased to amaze him the way she brightened up his world.

"Yeah."

"Wha'cha readin'?" she asked leaning forwards. She put on a pair of rectangle blue framed reading glasses. "Bosnia Surrenders to Serbia."

"Yeah… just wanted to see what was going on."

Emma's eyes narrowed, she could see something hidden in that statement. Despite her acting like a high school girl and care-free attitude, she was very smart and perceptive. She thought back to December when Jack had come home with those scars and a haunted look in his eyes. He laughed it off like he always did, but he was never quite the same. She was told there was an accident during his and Jason's final training and everyone, but they died. Kuhscheisse (bullshit), she'd seen enough war movies and grew up with Jack long enough to know those kinds of scar were caused by live ammo! She never believed it. She had no idea why she made the connection… maybe just because it was something he was fairly secretive about and he normally told her everything.

"How'd you get that scar," she asked.

"Well…"

"We're alone… bitte (please)?" she asked.

Jack looked over his shoulder. He took a deep breath and said quietly, "In early November… Jason and I were sent into a covert operation in Bosnia."

"Before Mazar-e Sharif?" she asked naming a place in Afghanistan where his first 'official' combat operation was.

"Yeah… everyone was killed during the drop… we were the only survivors."

"Is that all you can tell me?"

"Yes."

"… how's the war?"

"A lot better than when I first got there," said Jack taking a sip of coffee. "I show up at Incheon and the 8th Army is already trying to bug out. Next thing I know, I'm on damage control with my platoon to slow the PKA's advance as much as possible."

"Seoul didn't last long, did it?"

"Nope."

"Papa wanted to know how you like those G-416s?"

"Stolen off an airbase in Inchoen. Some bastard took advantage of the chaos and probably sold it off on the black market."

Emma smiled, "Those guns go for a couple hundred Euros so I bet that guy will be making a lot of money."

"It's not funny. We're the most under equipped unit in Delta," said Jack with a grimace. "Other Delta platoons already have the G-416 and the G-36C. Some even got the SIG SG-552 and FN P-90. Do we? Nooooooooo, we're stuck with the old M4A1 carbine and M16A3."

"They're good weapons," reasoned Emma.

"I know, but I want better weapons before we invade Korea," said Jack with a sigh.

"…. Papa may be willing to get you those guns and have them delivered through private channels instead of the military's supply lines," she said slowly in a business tone.

"Arigato, I'll see if my family is willing to put up the money for it."

"Will they?"

"I think since this is for weapons to use against the nations that invaded our ancestors' homeland, I think it can be done," said Jack with a grin. Emma smiled too; she loved his real smile, as opposed to his usual smirk, wry smile, or sarcastic grin. It made her feel special because she knew he only used a real smile for her. In her opinion, Jack was too much of a tight ass for his own good.

"So… what are you doing here?" asked Jack.

Emma started, she'd not expected that and for a second she couldn't remember, "uh… oh yeah. I came here with Jenny for exercise in the gym upstairs, but I just been too out of it so I decided to get something to eat. When I saw you I thought I'd finally lost it."

"I'm sure you weren't expecting me."

"Ja (yes), but you're really here aren't you?"

"No Emma, I'm still in Japan and you just crazy," said Jack with a grin.

**Whack!**

"Ow," said Jack rubbing his head where Emma hit him with the newspaper. It was meant to be playful, but it still hurt.

"Baby," she said taunted.

"I got blasted into a wall in Kitakyushu and hit my head there," he said glaring at here, but internally smiling.

"So?" she said mockingly.

"A 155mm shell sent me flying 5ft into the air and 6yd sideways."

"So?"

"It hurt."

"So?"

Jack laughed and she said, "What would you do without me?"

'I never want to know,' Jack thought to himself. "I'd probably just be that quiet loner who hung out with the other loners. But you would be in all sorts of trouble without me and quick thinking. Remember when the Seattle PD (police department) found the pack of weed?"

Emma blushed and looked down, "Ja… I can still hear you yelling at me."

"I thought that if I wasn't gonna' tell anyone, then I should be the one to lecture to you that drugs are bad."

"I know and I only did it once. I've been clean ever since."

"I know and I'm proud of you," he said smiling affectionately.

Emma didn't like to dwell on her lesser moments in life. She'd known Jack from afar for most of her elementary. In 8th grade she'd gotten in trouble and he'd been passing by. She'd always known him as the super smart loner kid who always was the teacher's favorite. She'd never expected him to be so manipulative or such a good liar or such a quick thinker or to have a dark side. She'd hung out with him ever since and found some of her life's passions like acting and writing manga… which reminded her.

"Jack I need to do some shopping…"

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**1145 Hours; August 5****th****, 2010; the International District, Seattle; Washington State, United States of America**

The international district or as Emma and Jack like to call it, Little Tokyo, was practically next door to King Street Station. It was mostly just Japanese shops. Tourist often came here to see the Japanese culture that existed in Seattle. The Nisei (Japanese-Americans) didn't mind the business, but they did prefer other Nisei over Gaijin (foreigners).

"Irasshimasen (welcome) Heckler-san," said a store clerk. Emma had come to these stores for years with Jack and his older sister Kathleen. When Emma got her driver's license she'd started coming on her own. The people here knew her on sight and after a while they got use to her and treated her like she was one of them.

"Ohaiyo Ichi-chan," Emma greeted the old woman cheerily.

"Oh… ohaiyo Shinhachi-sama," said the old woman with a bow.

"Ichi-san," said Jack with a bow.

"What are you looking for today?" asked Ichi-san.

"Is my order in?" asked Emma.

"Oh, hai. It came last night. I get it."

Jack turned to face Emma, "Manga supplies?"

Emma nodded. She'd started writing her own manga back in high school. She'd been printed in an amateur manga artist contest in New Type magazine. The American manga industry was very new and it was hard to be in line of work that barely existed in this country, but it was her dream and Jack was always encouraging her.

"Dōzō (here)."

"Arigato," thanked Emma paying the woman.

"I'm hungry," she Jack.

"We can eat over at A Taste of Kyoto, I'll even pay as a welcome home."

"Nah, I'll pay for my food and you pay for yours."

They sat down and ordered. Emma observed Jack's appearance, he clearly wasn't sleeping well, his nose looked like it was broken again, he had a fake tooth in the place of one of his back teeth, and he just didn't look well; weary and beat up. Still, his hair was fairly neat as always. Bangs pushed up and to the side slightly; she loved that. He was quiet, mysterious, handsome in a rugged soldierly sort of way, and despite his distance dry/sarcastic ways he was a caring person; she could go on like this for hours. She'd tried for almost six years now to find him a nice girlfriend… but no one seemed to appreciate him the way she did. They always seemed to be more interested in using him… it occurred to her at some point that she had no head for matchmaking, or even finding herself a descent boyfriend.

He was talking about some of the operations in Pusan, Awaji Island, Shinomoseki, and Kitakyushu. Emma was slowly stirring her drink, since July she had been brooding over her ex-boyfriend/lucky-to-be-alive-ex-boyfriend, and here Jack was brooding over the fate of East Asia; she felt kinda' petty.

"I'm going to the bathroom," said Jack getting up from the table. Absentmindedly, Emma was staring are his back side as he walked.

'What the fuck am I thinking? … well it is one nice ass,' Emma thought to herself. She'd thought about her past relationships, everyone hated her past boyfriends. Ginny, Jenny, Fiona, Kate, and Anya all said so and even Jack's military buddies Sean, Jason, Maya, and Kevin agreed. She remembered how pissed she was that Jack couldn't be at the college's summer play where she finally got a lead role. She missed him and it was relieved to have him back. She felt grounded again; all was right in world… or at least her world.

She'd been thinking about Jack very hard for mouths now. Trying to get a handle on some thoughts she'd been having about him. She was having dreams about him holding her, caressing her, kissing…

'Ja… I'm defiantly in love with my best friend. Scheißen (shit), what do I say? What do I do? What that fuck is up with my hair? Awww why didn't he call first?! I could've cleaned up a little,' she was practically ripping her hair out.

"Emma, I need to get going, sorry. Maybe we can hang out later," said Jack tossing a 20 dollar bill to cover his food.

"Ja, auf wiedersehen (good bye)," she said. 'Now what?'

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**1401 Hours; August 5****th****, 2010; Shinhachi Family households, Kirkland; Washington State, United States of America**

A Japanese style wall stood in front of Jack's car. Pine and evergreen trees, that the state got its nickname from, were everywhere. He drove up to heavy gate with camera watching him. He pulled out a keycard and swiped it through a slot by the gate. The gate rolled open and Jack drove his car into the area.

It was a whole new world in there. Several Japanese style homes stood spread out around the area. Trees, small hills, creeks, and ponds were spread out in the massive compound. Each one had one of his uncles, aunts, and/or grandparents living in it. The one nearest the creek that ran through the compound was where he, his parents, his sister, his nice, nephew, and brother in law lived.

The Shinhachi's first moved to American in the 1890's. They had been a clan that loyally served the Date clan (4). During the Meiji Restoration, sometimes called the Japanese Revolution, they sided with the Shogunate. In the 1860's the Shogunate, the people who sided with the Shogun/Tokugawa Clan, and the Imperialist, the people who wanted to restore the Emperor to full power, fought a short and small, but bloody civil war. The Shogunates lost and the young Meiji-Tennō was given full power over Japan. Also during this time Gaijin were allowed to enter Japan. Some Japanese, mainly Christians and Shogunates, went to America. His family started off as farmers, but made money in investments in the Great Northern Railroad. Then they had their lands seized by the government during World War II because they were 'Jap Bastards' as people liked to called them back then. After the war they sued the government and got their money and property back.

Today, most of his family worked in the federal government, banks, or law firms, but some chose non-corporate, non-cubical, and non-government jobs. Jack's father worked as a senior official for the Office of Comp Control (OCC) which made sure banks were following federal guidelines. His mother worked for advertising company. His sister was a corporate lawyer. His brother in law was a writer, so far only one of his books was published, but it was a start in Jack's opinion.

He had aunts and uncles who worked for the Department of Transportation such as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) or Rail Safety Board. Others worked for Microsoft Computer Inc. or Boeing Aviation Company, both of which had their headquarters near Seattle. Jack was the only one who worked in the military. His great grandfather was in the 100th Infantry Battalion, a special unit for Nisei, during World War II, that same person fought in the Korean War during the '50s. There was also an uncle who fought in Vietnam and a cousin who briefly served in Operation: Desert Storm before pursuing a career in the stock market.

Jack parked his car in a parking place in front of the house. He got out and when inside. In the entrance he kicked off his shoes and put on some slippers. He noted that his shoes were the only pair there. He walked into the kitchen and looked at the dry erase board that showed where everyone was:

Jim: In Washington DC; meeting with Treasury Department about Washington State banks stability

Louise: In Los Angeles; meeting with Warner Brothers for movie advertising deal

Kathleen: In New York; suing various companies for Boeing, reasons classified

Jack: In Asia; at war with North Korea and China

Eddie: In New York; with my wife

Jennifer: In New York; with mom and dad

Steve: In New York; with mom and dad

So his dad was in Washington DC, his mom in LA, and the rest of his immediate family was in New York. He erased the entry under his name and wrote:

Jack: Home; for a mouth's leave

He walked around noted that some dust was collecting on the house which meant they'd been gone for a few days. No one in his family believed in servants, if household chores had to be done they were perfectly able to do it themselves. It taught hard work and discipline which the Shinhachi's strongly believed in. Also, from the age of 8 all Shinhachi's were taught basic martial arts, at 10 they were taught more advance martial arts, at 12 they were taught to use weapons like the staff, three piece staff, longbow, and wooden replicas of katanas, at 15 they were taught lethal moves, and at 17 they were allowed to stop training to concentrate on things like the SATs and college.

He did some vacuuming for a couple hours. Then he wandered the ground floor of the house. Kitchen, dinning room, living room, a utility room with the heating, pluming, and AC, a porch that faced a pond, and his mom and dad's home offices.

He walked out onto the porch, took off his slippers and socks, sat on the edge, and dipped his feet in the cool water. Several flat rocks were scattered around the pond which was mostly shallow, they would practice fighting and maneuvering by jumping from rock to rock while engaging an opponent. Koi fish liked to stay in the deep end, but swam around the shallow parts of the pond and sometime up the creek that fed the pond.

He looked up at the sky, partially cloudy, but still plenty of sun. Mild whether, almost never humid, normal summer whether for this part of Washington State. The winter would bring varying amounts of snow, usually never heavy snow until the beginning of next year. Spring would bring lots of rain, but mostly drizzles. Fall would bring similar whether to spring. Though it was rarely humid and hardly any insects like mosquitoes lived here. Jack never understood why people liked the southeastern parts of the US with the humidity and swarms of bugs.

Jack headed up to the first floor where his sister's and brother in law's offices were. Also this parent's room, sister and brother in law room, his niece's room, and nephew's room. He walked up to the second floor. If you turned left you'd face the door to the attic. To the right was a small hall with two doors. One was his office, the other was his room. It was nice and quiet up here, of course he also sound proofed the walls so no one could over hear his phone conversations which were often classified.

His office had a desk his little plastic stand with the American flag, German flag, British flag, Japanese flag, Albanian flag, Bosnian flag, and NATO flag. On one shelf were a couple of model airplanes he'd built. There was a map of the world. A couple of heavily ceiled file cabinets. A printer/scanner on a table next to the desk. On a tack board was various notices, personal photos, and wanted posters of terrorists, foreign spies, and assassins.

His room had a futon in the middle. A dresser drawer with mirror. A gun storage locker that was heavily secure so his niece and nephew couldn't get into his guns. A TV with DVD player, PS3, and Xbox 360. Several shelves with movies, DVDs, CDs, books, mangas, field guides, military text books, journals he filled on his knowledge of warfare, and more model airplanes. There was also a real katana and kodachi on a traditional rack for Japanese swords.

"What's this?" he said a note taped to his shelves.

'Dear Jack,

Barrowed your Jason Bourne DVDs, Naked Gun 2 ½ DVD, Band of Brothers DVDs, and your Beat Crusaders CDs.

Emma'

Emma was one of the few non-Nisei that were allowed to visit Shinhachi's home for non-business meetings. She'd often come by to barrow his stuff.

Tired, Jack popped in a CD and listened to the song American Pie by Don McLean:

A long, long time ago

When I remember how that music use to make me smile

And I knew if I had my chance to people dance

And they be happy for a while

But February made me shiver

With every paper I deliver

Bad news on the doorstep

I couldn't take one more step

I couldn't remember if I cried

When I heard of his widowed bride

But something touched me deep inside

The day the music died

So bye, bye Miss American pie

Drove my Chevy to the levy

But the levy was dry

And good old boys were out drinking whisky and wry

Saying, this'll be the day I die

This'll be the day I die

The first versus was about a singer named Bob Holly who died in a plane crash in the 1950s in early February. Holly was newly married at the time, but his wife had a miscarriage shortly after his death. The song picked up from here.

Did you right the book of love

And do you faith in god above

If the bible tells you so

Do you believe in rock and roll

Do you think music can save your mortal soul

And can you teach me to dance real slow

Well, I know you're in love with him

Cause I saw ya' dancing in the gym

You both kicked off your shoes

And I dig those rhythm and blue

I was a lonely teenage bronkin' buck

With a pink carnation and pickup truck

But I knew I was out of luck the day the music died

We were singing

Bye, bye Miss American Pie

Drove my Chevy to the levy

But the levy was dry

And good old boys were out drinking whisky and wry

Saying, this'll be the day I die

This'll be the day I die

That versus was about the '50s. Jack never cared much for McLean's Christian views, but Jack was raised in a Shinto family. They did celebrate Christmas, but Christmas held no religious importance. New Years was the big holiday for Shintos.

Now for ten years we've been on our own

Lost out on a rolling stone

But that's not how it use to be

When the jester sang for the king and queen

In a coat be barrowed from James Dean

And a voice that came from you and me

And, wile the king was looking down

The jester stole his thorny crown

The court room was adjourned

No verdict was returned

And while Lennon read a book on Marx

The quartet practiced in the park

And we dirges in the dark

The Day the music died

We were singing

Bye, bye Miss American pie

Drove my Chevy to the levy

But the levy was dry

And good old boys were drinking whisky and wry

Saying, this'll be the day I die

This'll be the day I die…

Jack felt himself drifting off into sleep (5).

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**0830 Hours; August 6****th****, 2010; Jack's Room, Kirkland; Washington State, United States of America**

Jack didn't sleep well. In fact when someone kicked him awake he realized he was in the semi-conscious sleep he did on the battlefield that didn't really do him any good.

"Mornin'," said a female voice.

A girl, about 5' 3" with short black hair with a gold streak pulled into a pony tail, was standing in his office where Jack had fallen asleep. She looked of Central American descent, had several piercing in her ears and dressed mostly in black. She'd probably be mistaken for a goth, but she didn't wear any makeup. The only accessories she had was a watch, a set of major's oak leafs on her shoulders, and around her neck a set dog tags and a Star of David. Major Maya Solomon, commander of the 4th Delta assault platoon.

"Hi Maya, what do you want?"

"The file."

"Oh, right. Here," said Jack handing Maya a file. "How's the hunt for the 43rd Armored Division?"

"By the time we got to that part of Kazakhstan they were long gone," she said looking through the file on the Soviet deserters. "We found traces though, they were definitely there. The navy went in pursuit, but they lost contact with them and we've got know idea where the 43rd are."

"We may have to warn the Soviet leaders," said Jack turning on his coffee maker.

"I just got authorized to tell Anya," said Maya. Anya Bolotnikov was the daughter of Nikolay Bolotnikov. She was attending school in the US and regularly called home. She was also one of Emma's friends.

"Soooo… how do we tell someone that their father is going to be assassinated by an angry mob of Stalinist extremist?" asked Maya.

"We? You mean you, right?" asked Jack.

"No, **WE**!" stated Maya firmly.

"I out rank you," reminded Jack.

"We're both Delta platoon leaders, plus you're not on duty," reminded Jack.

"Fine," said Jack indifferently pouring himself coffee.

"Oh, Jenny wants us to hang out this weekend since your home. Also Sean and Kevin should be coming home on leave," said Maya. Sean Connors was tall thin man in the Air Force Special Forces. He was in one of the first squadrons to get the Lockheed-Martin F-35 Lightening-II. Kevin von Ritter was a computer hacker in G-2 Military Intelligence. Both were close friends, but were stationed in Europe where as Maya, Jason, and Jack was stationed in Asia.

"Right, Jason should be back from Munich by then," said Jack. He looked at her and opened his mouth, but stopped.

"Yes?" asked Maya.

"Nothing."

"Emma?"

"… how's she been?"

"Mostly… confused. I think she's just come to a conclusion though."

"What conclusion?"

"I think you'll find out soon," said Maya with a sly smile.

"Oh joy," said Jack sarcastically.

"So, what's on your agenda?"

"Get some paper work done. Raise money for new guns for my platoon. Finish the last of my summer school assignments."

"All before parting the Red Sea?" asked Maya with a grin.

"Nah, I'll leave that to you."

"Because I'm Jewish (6)."

"Your ancestors probably there for it," said Jack with mock sincerity. Maya rolled her eyes, but smiled. "Seriously, I think I set my sights lower."

"Like asking Emma out now she's available?" Maya raising her eyebrow.

"I don't suppose there is a way out of that question?" asked Jack carefully.

"Nope," said Maya simply.

"Well, I don't know," said Jack honestly.

"Want help?" asked Maya kindly.

"Do you think I need it?"

Silence.

"Okay… that was a stupid question," said Jack feeling his face go red. "What's your idea?"

"You could try talking to her. I'll take care of the rest," said Maya with an evil grin that told Jack she and the others had taken matters of his own hands long before he'd set foot back in the US. He was trying hard to think what Maya, Jen, Gin, Kate, Fi, and probably his own second in command had planned out. He couldn't quite figure it out just yet, but he was getting a few plausible ideas… and they worried him a little.

"Maya?" asked Jack, voice cracking.

"Yes, Jack?" asked Maya sweetly.

"I'm scared," said Jack seriously with wide eyes. He knew he'd been stupid not to be.

* * *

Okay, some of you are probably not going to like this chapter. Well I liked it. Jack Shinhachi is an important character in my story and his importance is going to continue. I wanted to give ya'll a view into his personal life with this chapter. As I hinted, there is still some business to be done by Jack Shinhachi while at home. Next chapter is gonna' be all about Asou. Then either Hanai, Harima, or both. Maybe I'll do a chapter dedicated to Yakumo. Why don't ya'll review and tell me what you think.

Anyways, next chapter: Asou and him helping move his brother into Asou's apartment. Note: Asou in the anime and manga doesn't have a brother.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. Sea-Tac is the nickname for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. It services both Seattle and Tacoma as their primary airport. Sea-Tac is, I believe, the largest airport in the State of Washington.

2. The Washington Athletics Club (WAC) is a real place in Seattle. It's a sort of resort hotel that includes spa, exercise, fine dining, cafés, meeting rooms for business men and women, and hotel rooms too. I've been there before, it's pretty nice.

3. Njet (pronounced: n-ye-t) is a rough translation of Russian word for 'no' using Latin letters. I could only find websites that would give me the translations using the Russian alphabet, so I had to retranslate it into the Latin alphabet we use so it may not be exactly right.

4. The Date's were a very powerful family of Daimyo (regional lords) that ruled over what is today the Yamagata Prefecture. They founded the city of Sendai which is home to the Japanese Northeastern HQ for the Self-Defense Forces and one of the largest cities in northern Honshu.

5. There is another like 5 versus in the song American Pie. It's almost a 9 minute song. Sorry, but I couldn't write the whole thing down.

6. In case you didn't know. Moses, the prophet of Judaism (I think), parted the Red Sea so his people could escape the Pharaoh. I don't not mean anything anti-Semitic by it.


	33. Chapter 33: My Idiot Brother

Well here's the next chapter. Like I said before, this chapter is going to be about Asou. Next chapter, you guys decide: Hanai, Harima, Yakumo, or Mai.

You know, I just realized that I'm going to be wrapping up this story in the relatively near future. The way I see it, this story will end after the invasion of Korea. Then after this story, I'll start writing a squeal.

I don't own School Rumble, Bleach, or Full Metal Panic. Please review and/or tell a friend about my story.

* * *

**Chapter 33: My Idiot Brother**

"Sometimes being a brother is better than being a superhero"

Marc Brown

**0730 Hours; August 6****th****, 2010; Asou's Apartment, Yagami; Kanagawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

**Buzzzzzz!**

Asou's alarm clock went off. He smacked a fist on the button on the top.

"Shit," he groaned as he stumbled off to the bathroom. He pealed off his boxers and answered nature's call. After flushing the toilet, he pulled off his shirt and stepped into the shower.

Still not entirely awake he wandered back into his room with a towel wrapped around his waist and got dressed. He pulled on a pair of brown pants, a grey and black collared shirt, and a leather jacket that had the 6th Division unit insignia on his left sleeve and the Japanese flag on the right. His staff sergeant rank insignias were on both sleeves under the unit insignia and flag. He hung his dog tags around his neck and went into his living room/kitchen. He got a bowl out his cabinet. He filled it with milk and cereal.

There was a knock at the door.

"Come in," called Asou.

"Ohaiyo, Asou-sempai," greeted Sarah Adiemus. She was dressed in a blue and white T-shirt and blue jeans. Her hair was pulled into his usual braided bun.

"Sarah-kun, you don't have to call me that. I'm not in school any more," said Asou vaguely while eating.

"Would you prefer Sgt. Asou?" asked Sarah nonplused.

"It would be SSgt. Asou, and no. Hiroyoshi will be fine."

"Uh… hai… Hiroyoshi-kun," said Sarah blushing deeply. Asou, who was still eating, didn't notice.

"What are you doing today, Hiroyoshi-kun?"

"Driving to Tokyo. My brother's building got condemned by the city and everyone has to move out before September when they start tearing it down. My mom wants him to live with me until he finds a new place to live," said Asou.

"You have a brother?" asked Sarah curiously (1).

"Hai, Yuuya," said Asou rolling his eyes.

"… Asou Yuuya? …. That guy in the magazines, the one in Meisho Daichi High School? Who took second place in the modeling contest (2)?" asked Sarah.

"That's him," said Asou finishing his breakfast. "You going to volunteer at the church again (3)?"

"Of course, I was an orphan myself their and I try to give back as much as I can," said Sarah sweetly. Asou smiled a little, he didn't know anyone else in the world so kind and selfless. He'd always been fond of Sarah. Sarah was always fond of him, but on a deeper level… not that Asou knew that.

Asou checked his watch, "I need to get going."

"Jā, mata (later)," said Sarah.

"Mata."

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**0924 Hours; August 6****th****, 2010; Shibuya Ward, Tokyo; Tokyo Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

Shibuya was a district in the middle of Tokyo. The area is frequented by kogals (4) who come to see all the shopping stores. Shibuya was known in Tokyo as the fashion center of Japan. Ichijo-san and Gonzalez-san had both come here once and said it was one of the most crowed places they been to. Asou had to agree, it was packed and sometimes he was worried he might run over people by accident.

Asou was driving an ordinary four door sedan. He'd bought it during his 3rd year of high school. He'd always dreamed of owning a fancier car, but this one was okay… and affordable.

He'd rented a small moving trailer from Yagami Movers and attached it to his car because he doubted all of Yuuya's stuff would fit in his car.

Asou parked in front of McDonalds. He walked in and looked around for his brother. He saw someone walked by with a tray of food, the appearance of the food repulsed Asou, but the smell of hypnotizing and intoxicating.

"Nii-san!" shouted out a familiar voice. A tall boy with blonde hair parted down the middle and to the sides was walking towards Asou Hiroyoshi. He was wearing grey pants, a white T-shirt, and an orange jacket. His eyes were a light brown, but in curtain light they looked yellowish. He was a good looking man… and Hiroyoshi's 'idiot brother'. Yuuya was a well meaning person and a nice guy, but he lacked street smarts, stubborn, and tended to be slow on the uptake, much like Harima or Hanai. He was 16, soon to be 17. Yuuya attended a private school in the northern part of Tokyo.

"Yuuya, how are you?" asked Hiroyoshi.

"Oh you know, same old, same old," said Yuuya waving his hand in a dismissive sort of way.

"Have you eaten?" asked Hiroyoshi.

"Come on Nii-san, I can take care of myself," laughed Yuuya. Hiroyoshi frowned; since they were young he was always watching other his little brother. Although Hiroyoshi often referred to Yuuya as 'my idiot brother' he was protective of him and always felt a strong sense of responsibility for Yuuya… he also had doubts Yuuya could take care of himself at times.

They were in Hiroyoshi's car heading to Yuuya's apartment.

"This it?" asked Hiroyoshi.

"Hai."

Hiroyoshi couldn't understand what was wrong with the place. Even inside it looked fine. Sure, there were a few dents in the walls, tarnished light fixtures, and stains on the rugs, but the place was still pretty nice.

"So… why is the city taking down this building?" asked Hiroyoshi.

"Cracks in the foundation."

"Oh."

They reached Yuuya's apartment. It was a normal single person Japanese apartment, small, but comfortable. Couch, small color TV, kitchenette, bathroom, and single bedroom. Yuuya had already acquired a bunch of empty cardboard boxes to put his stuff in.

"Some of my friend are gonna' help out too," said Yuuya.

"When are they gonna' get here?" asked Hiroyoshi.

A knock at the door answered his question.

"Oi, Ni (5), open up!" shouted a loud bossy voice.

"Who's that?" asked Hiroyoshi. "And why are they calling you Ni?"

Yuuya sweat-dropped and laughed nervously, "That would be Ran-chan?"

Yuuya opened the door and three people bolted through. The first one in was a girl his red hair and a dark red streak in her hair. She had wide brown eyes and an aura of energy so powerful that it nearly sent Hiroyoshi a few paces back. She was followed by an equally energetic boy with short blonde spiky hair and dark skin wearing a blue jacket with bananas woven on it. The third person was a girl with fierce grey eyes and long brown hair. She was well dressed in what Hiroyoshi only could guessed was the latest fashion.

"Brother man!" greeted the boy who hugged Yuuya.

"Get off monkey boy! I told you a million times I'm not your brother!" scream Yuuya in a way that told Hiroyoshi this was a daily occurrence.

"You're not," said 'monkey boy' with tears in his eyes. This change in emotion was so fast and overdramatic it seemed unreal. They way the two girls were reacting also suggested it was a daily occurrence.

"Whoa, Tutsukichi, there no need to cry… I'm mean… I have a brother," said Yuuya indicating a confused Hiroyoshi.

"Hey there! I'm Kuroi Tatsuki, para-para king of Machida! Nice to meet you! Nice to meet you!" said Tutsukichi very quickly and cheerily while shaking both of Hiroyoshi's hands at the same time. Hiroyoshi was too stunned in this second rapid change in emotion to speak or return the greeting.

"And I'm Honda Mami. Yuuya's girlfriend," she said in a bossy sort of voice, but friendly.

"Uh… nice to meet you?" said Hiroyoshi uncertainly.

"And I'm Kotobuki Ran," declared the other girl suddenly. "And I'm the world's number one gal!"

"… who the hell are you people?" asked a still stunned Hiroyoshi weakly.

"We just told you, duh," said Ran. "So, Ni, what do you want us to do?"

"Just pack up those kitchen utensils," said Yuuya.

Another knock and Hiroyoshi turned to face his brother, "There aren't more people like these two?"

"Iē, the others are pretty calm," said Yuuya walking to the door.

A girl with short blonde hair entered. She was about the same height and size as Ran, but presented a very different aura of energy. It was free spirited like Ran's, but much calmer and there was something motherly in the way she held herself. She was with a guy with brown hair. He was taller than anyone else in the room. What struck Hiroyoshi as odd was that the girl was wearing an engagement ring; he'd never seen a girl this young engaged to be married. They were followed by a third couple. The guy he recognized as Yuuya's best friend Otohata Rei, cold and distant as any soldier and Hiroyoshi wasn't total fond of him, but he seemed alright so he tolerated him. He was follow by a girl with waist length raven colored hair with a bandana tied over it. She seemed a little awkward and Hiroyoshi suspected she was very shy. She seemed friendly though, it was odd to see her with Otohata and the sharp contrast in personalities.

"Hi, I'm Yamazaki Miyu and this is my Yamato," said the girl cheerily to Hiroyoshi. She too started to help pack, but not in the haphazard way the others were doing.

"I'm Kotobuki Yamato, local police officer and Ran's older brother," said Yamato holding out his hand.

"I'm Hoshino Aya. Nice to meet you," said the shy girl very politely.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Asou Hiroyoshi, Yuuya's older brother," said Hiroyoshi and after over looking Yamato he asked, "Were you draft?"

"Police officers are exempted," said Yamato, which made sense to Hiroyoshi. "Were you draft?"

Hiroyoshi held up his dog tags that were hung around his neck and indicated the rank and unit insignias on his jacket.

"Oh, right," said Yamato nervously scratching the back of his head. "So… were you in Kitakyushu or Shinomoseki?"

"Dude, didn't you see the news? My brother was in Korea, Awaji Island, and Shinomoseki," asked Yuuya. He handed Yamato a clipping from a newspaper which had a picture of 5th squad escorting captured PLA Brigadier General Wei. It was captioned:

5th squad of Echo Company; 27th Infantry Battalion

Veterans of the Battle of Pusan, Battle of Awaji Island, and Battle of Shinomoseki

Captured on August 2, 2010 the Chinese commander during the assault on the PLA HQ

"You captured the Chinese commander?" asked a stunned Yamato.

"We'll… we entered a building and got in a shootout with the PLA… er, Chinese Army as you'd probably call it. Then we captured these two surrendering Chinese soldiers. It was a little bit before we realized we'd captured a senior officer," said Hiroyoshi with a shrug. "It was nothing really. Mostly, it was an accident… and lucky we didn't kill him in the shooting, because we never realized he was there."

"Hey, brother," called out Tatsukichi. "Is this suppose be smoking?"

After Hiroyoshi used the fire extinguisher on Yuuya's former toaster, they went back to packing. They also decided to make sure Tatsukichi was no longer handling electrical objects.

"I think that's everything," said Yuuya.

"Great, lets take this down to my car," said Hiroyoshi.

"Oi, Yuuya, where are you staying?" asked Otohata.

"In Yagami with my brother."

"Where?" everyone asked.

"Yagami. You know? In the Kanagawa Prefecture? … on the Sagami River (6)?" asked Yuuya. No one seemed to know where that was.

"So when do we leave?" asked Ran.

"We? I'm only taking my brother back with me and… don't look at me like that I only have room for three other people and…"

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**1317 Hours; August 6****th****, 2010; Yagami; Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan**

Hiroyoshi was grumbling under his breath. He was driving his brother, his brother's girlfriend, Ran, and Tatsukichi. Following him was Yamato and the others in his car. He'd only agreed to Yamato bringing his car because they didn't have room for Yuuya's bed and Hiroyoshi didn't have a spare nor did he felt like buying a new one when they already owned a perfectly good bed. Yuuya being the nice guy he was couldn't say no to a pretty face… or his slightly intimidating girlfriend; and Hiroyoshi couldn't say no to his little brother's desperate pleas.

Ran and Tatsukichi were both staring eagerly out the window; they both seemed so easily assumed. Mami was questioning Hiroyoshi about the war which he found slightly stressful.

"So what is your squad like?" asked Mami.

"You'll probably meet most of them, but they're a mob of idiots… and in a way they are like family to me," Hiroyoshi fondly. "I asked some of them to help so they'll be there."

"What do they get in return?" asked Yuuya.

"Free food, something Harima and Kitsumori can't resist," said Hiroyoshi all knowingly.

Indeed, as he pulled into the alley behind the restaurant that Hiroyoshi lived above, there was three powerfully build men. One had glasses, one had sunglasses, and the other wasn't wearing glasses or sunglasses.

Hanai Haruki was wearing light jacket made of some synthetic fiber. It, like Hiroyoshi's, had the unit insignia and Japanese flag, but had a corporal's rank insignia. Harima Kenji and Kitsumori Kasu both were their army jackets with all the markings, but equipment removed.

"Sir," nodded Hanai in greeting.

"Where's the food?" asked Harima not bothering to pretend he was here for anything other than a free meal.

"Grab some of Yuuya's stuff first, than carry it upstairs," ordered Hiroyoshi. Instinctively, Hanai, Harima, and Kitsumori obey their superior's order not really thinking about the fact they weren't really under his command at this moment.

Harima stepped over to the mattress strapped to Yamato's car roof. Yamato practically jumped back from Harima in fear, Harima was taller than him and had the distinctive appearance of a delinquent.

"Get behind me Miyu, I'll protect you," whispered Yamato to his fiancé.

Harima rolled his eyes, he was use to people thinking he was going to rob them or something because of his appearance. "You mind, SSgt. Asou wants that carried upstairs."

"Oh… you're in his squad?"

Harima held up his dog tags in response. He pushed pass Yamato and untied the mattress. "I'm Private Harima Kenji, JFA209065. 5th squad, 2nd platoon; Echo Company, 27th Infantry Battalion; 81st Heliborne/Armor Regiment, 14th Reserve Brigade; 6th Division, Northeastern Command."

"You know the jacket he was wearing should have tipped you off," stated Otohata indifferently behind Yamato who was trying more and more not to be noticed after his previous mistake.

"Hey, speaking of our jackets," said Kitsumori who was helping Harima, "I hear they're gonna' replace our current camo with either the digital camouflage use by the Americans and British or that leopard camouflage the Germans use."

"Yeah, I heard that too," said Hanai who was grabbing the pieces of Yuuya's bed that would be reassembled in his room. "Harima, you read those guides all the time, that do they say about the different styles?"

"Uh… they say they're both equally effective. I hear that the digital camo is easier to make because they can design it on a computer," said Harima trying to recall what 'NATO's Recognition Guide to NATO Equipment and Uniforms' said on the subject.

The others present listened intently, not really sure on what the subject was. Besides it was about the military.

"Oi, Harima, how you like your Colt .45?" asked Hiroyoshi.

"It's pretty good, why?" asked Harima as he and Kitsumori carried the mattress and behind them Yamato and Hanai carry the bed pieces.

"I was told that the Federal Army is changing their standard pistol cartridge to .45 caliber armor piercing cartridge from the current 9x19mm parabellum. You're the only one in the squad with a .45 caliber handgun," stated Hiroyoshi.

"Really? What guns are they switching to?" asked Hanai as they walked up the stairs.

"They're considering either the Glock P-21 or the SIG Sauer P-220, which has a .45 caliber version."

"Cool, I haven't bought a sidearm yet," said Kitsumori. "What would you recommend?"

"… mmmm, don't know really… Itoko would know more than me," said Harima.

"Where is she?" asked Kitsumori.

"Who knows."

"Where are you guys standing?" asked Hiroyoshi as they set everything in Hiroyoshi's spare room, which would be Yuuya's room.

"At the Tsukamoto's," said Harima. Tsukamoto's allowed Harima and Kitsumori to stay at there home since they were mostly responsible for Mai. Kitsumori was in one of the guest rooms and Harima was in the same room he stayed at during winter break two years ago when Itoko locked him out of the apartment.

Hiroyoshi listened carefully to his squad members, he still couldn't let go of the idea he was responsible for them off duty than they could let go of the idea they weren't under his command off duty.

"… oi, isn't Mai's birthday coming up?" asked Hiroyoshi remembering something.

"Ow, shit!" howled in pain Yuuya when Harima dropped a box on his foot.

"Holy… I completely forgot," said Harima in a hoarse whisper. Hanai and Kitsumori had similar looks of shock and panic on their faces.

"We haven't made any plans," said Hanai.

"Arggg, where do we start?" groaned Kitsumori.

"Uh… guys, we have two weeks for that," reminded Hiroyoshi.

"Oh yeah," the Kitsumori, Hanai, and Harima in unison; Hiroyoshi sweat-dropped.

"I think the cars are unloaded," said Yamato after a while.

"Great, so what about that free food?" asked Ran to which Kitsumori and Harima eagerly nodded.

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**1400 Hours; August 6****th****, 2010; local Chinese restaurant, Yagami; Kanagawa Prefecture, Japanese Federation**

"Order up," said Sarah. Sarah had come back to start her shift which would run, with breaks of course, until closing. Currently she was helping Hiroyoshi to serve his brother and his friends and the three present members of 5th squad with a late lunch. Yamazaki was helping out some too, she'd proven to be quite the cook.

"Yamazaki-san," called Hiroyoshi, "if you ever need a job, give my uncle a call. I think he'd love to have you here."

"Arigato, but I already work at a café in Shibuya called the Palm Tree. It's much closer to home."

"Point taken," said Hiroyoshi as he placed trays of food in front of his squad. He withdrew his hand quickly as Harima and Kitsumori dived on the food… almost literally.

"They always eat like this?" asked Hoshino, looking a little shocked at their eating method.

"It's no worse than your friend," said Hiroyoshi in defense of his soldiers, he was also pointing out the way Kotobuki Ran was stuffing down bowls of food like there was no tomorrow. Hoshino laughed nervously and sighed. "Sorry… I know she's pretty bad, but she's a good person."

"Yuuya she's to worship her," said Hiroyoshi.

"He use to have such a big crush on her. Before he met Honda-san," said Hoshino.

"Mmmm, I don't remember him mentioning her."

"NANI?!" screamed Honda Mami.

"Of course, I've been out of touch with Yuuya for a few months," admitted Hiroyoshi. After a few minutes of explanations, Honda seemed to calm down.

"You brother seems to have lively friends," said Sarah.

"Mm," grunted Hiroyoshi in agreement.

"So… your squad members were asking me about what a little girl would like for her eleventh birthday," said Sarah.

"What do they like?" asked Hiroyoshi.

"Well, I think they've figured something out… I could take you shopping and find something for her," suggested Sarah.

"Mm, that sounds like a good idea. How about… uh, this weekend or sometime next week?" asked Hiroyoshi.

"That's fine with me," said Sarah, happy at the prospects of spending time with him.

* * *

Well, what'd ya'll think of this chapter? I personally think it's shit. I'm just rambling for about 11 pages on Microsoft Word with no point. If ya'll hate this chapter I don't blame you because I hated it too. This is what I call a filler chapter, it has no other point then taking up space, and slowly adding on to the plot.

I swear the next chapter will be better than this. The next chapter is going to be about the Chinese and North Korean commanders trying to assess the full extent of their defeat and trying to decide the next course of action.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. Asou Hiroyoshi does not have a brother… that we know of, in either the anime or manga.

2. Asou Yuuya is a character from the anime Super Gals, one of the funniest animes I've seen. I noticed about a month ago that Yuuya and Hiroyoshi had the same family names, Asou. Aside from that, they aren't related. For more information please feel free to visit Wikipedia.

3. In School Rumble, Sarah Adiemus is an orphan who was raised as a nun at a church in the UK and later was sent to Japan. In my story Sarah is a volunteer at the church because last time I check nuns can't date, not even a certain staff sergeant. I think it would be too complicated to figure a way around it, and with my **limited** knowledge of the Christian religion I'm worried I may end up offending someone.

4. Kogals, or Gals as they are called by westerners, are Japan's rough equivalent of the 'Cali Girl'. They are big on fashion, karaoke bars, socializing, and so on. Just entire Kogal into Wikipedia and they can give you a better description than me.

5. In the anime Super Gals, Yuuya is commonly called Second Place in the English dubbed version. In the original Japanese dubbed version he's called Ni, which is Japanese for two.

6. Yagami is not on the Sagami River (to my knowledge). The Sagami River is a real river that runs through the middle of the Kanagawa Prefecture. I just picked that river because Yagami is basically Sagami, but spelt with an S instead of a Y.


	34. Chapter 34: Damage Control

Next chapter is up. The last chapter was mostly just to take up space and to mention a few things that will happen in future chapters. Though, I still hate my last chapter. Anyways, I'm trying to draw out my story cause I'm not really ready to let it end just yet. Plus once 5th squad goes to Korea it will be nothing, but war until the end for the most part.

Thank you sinnerchrno for adding my story to your story alert subscription. I'm not really sure what that means, but it sounds like a good thing… right?

This chapter is not going to have any shooting in it, but it is going to be about the war.

I don't own School Rumble, Bleach, or Full Metal Panic, or any anime/manga. Please review and/or tell a friend about this story.

* * *

**Chapter 34: Damage Control**

"No plan survives first contact intact"

Murphy's Laws of Combat

(Please assume the following conversations in this chapter are in Chinese unless stated otherwise)

**0900 Hours; August 10****th****, 2010; a military conference room, Sinŭiji; People's Democratic Republic of Korea**

"I'd like to call this meeting between the People's Liberation Army, People's Liberation Air Force, People's Liberation Navy, People's Korea Army, People's Korean Air Force, and People's Korean Navy on the subject of our recent defeat by NATO in Japan, to order," declared General Ma Xung, supreme commander of Chinese Liberation Army. They were in Sinŭiji, a city on the south bank of the Yalu River close to where it let out into the Yellow Sea. There was a bridge that crossed the Yalu River and into Andong, China.

Chinese and North Korean generals and admirals were meeting to discuss their next course of action in war and assess how much damage they've taken.

"What became of Lt. General Zhanghe?" asked General Yong supreme commander of the People's Korean Army.

"According to the Japanese news networks, he was killed fighting," said General Huang.

"Officially, he is to blame for our defeat," state General Xiao, "but some of my fellow generals in the glorious People's Liberation Army, Navy, and Air Force are questioning why we shouldn't blame the People's Korean Army."

"Blame us?!" said an angry PKAF general.

"Why shouldn't we!" demanded General Cao of the PLAF. "You promised us victory over the Japanese! We could have started our invasion of Taiwan by now if things had gone as you 'so called brilliantly' planned!"

The North Koreans couldn't help, but noticed that Chinese seemed upset that they couldn't destroy all their economic rivals and being a power that not even the Soviets or Americans could ignore. It is commonly believed that China is North Korea's principle ally, but since the People's Republic of China had risen to an economic empire in the world during the 1970s, they've seen the North Korean's radical 'destroy the capitalist' ways as a burden and liability. At the same time, the North Koreans sensed fear in the Chinese. They were risking a lot with their part taking in the invasion of Japan such as alienating the western nations that buy Chinese products and convincing them to buy else where. The Chinese knew it would be expensive for the Americans, but if they really put their minds to it, they would buy from other countries and embargo China like they were doing now.

"President Jong-Il is very upset with us too you know!" said General Yee of the PKA.

"Premier Zhang will have heads roll if we don't report back to the Central Government with some good news," said General Chen calmly, currently he was the most composed person in the room and one of the few not on his feet and glaring at the North Koreans. "Let's calm down and go over the original battle strategy from beginning to now."

"Very well," said General Sung-Bae of the PKA. "Since it was your idea, you lead us all."

"Fine," said General Chen rising to his feet while everyone else sat and composed themselves in a more appropriate manner for officers of their rank. "The People's Korean Army and Air Force began combat operations on March 14th, 2010. The 1st through 3rd Air Divisions were launched to strike forward positions of the Republic of Korea Army's 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Infantry Divisions and 1st, 5th, and 6th Armored Divisions stationed along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ); some 14 RoKA artillery brigades were also positioned along the DMZ."

Various Generals and Admirals nodded and/or made grunts of agreement to this accounted of the start of the war.

"Within 20 minutes of the first air strikes, about a third of the entire People's Korean Army launched a land assault while being supported by several artillery brigades. By evening, the US 3rd Marine Division was fortifying the city of Incheon as your army advanced on it. I also believe that the People's Korean Navy deployed some corvettes (1) and a frigate to prevent additional US or RoKN (Republic of Korea Navy).

Anyways, despite a few acts of sabotage by American special forces, the PKA was able to defeat the Americans at Incheon within a week. By that time the Central Government had decided to go to war and our own 3rd Army was deployed to the frontlines. Our combined forces attacked the NATO and RoKA forces trying to defend Seoul. NATO staged a rapid retreated and we didn't catch up to them until about May 10th when PKA light armor and airborne companies reached the city of Pusan where NATO was abandoning Korea. Within a few days a couple of PKA infantry battalions were deployed to Pusan. NATO also received additional reinforcements from the Japanese Federal Ground Self-Defense Forces.

After the withdrawal form Korea, we, against our Navy's better advice, followed the People's Korean Army's insistence to strike while the iron was hot and invade Japan… we did well initially, but NATO was organized and prepared and counter-attacked with such ferocity that we were defeated."

General Chen looked around while the others brooded over this summery.

"Can we attempt another landing on Japan?" asked one PKA General. "Surely they haven't closed all the gaps in their defenses."

General Xung turned to face his head of the People's Liberation Navy, Admiral Zhuo.

Admiral Zhuo shook her head, "The Navy has lost one-fifth of its surface fleet. Do not mistake my words as unpatriotic, but I would not risk more ships of the glorious People's Liberation Navy to be needlessly destroyed by NATO."

"What about your carriers?" asked a PKN admiral.

Admiral Zhuo glared at him, "Seeing how the People's Korean Navy is only a ramble of four frigates, eight corvettes, and a couple dozen gunboats, I would not expect you to understand or comprehend the full fighting strength of NATO's combined navel fleets."

"It's not my fault we have no funding for a proper navy," said the same PKN admiral annoyed.

"What of our carriers?" asked General Huang trying to stop another out brake of fighting.

"The Varyag is currently in a base in the Gulf of Chihli. The two old Kiev class carriers we obtained from the Red Navy in the '80s are both in dry docks at Hong Kong," said Admiral Quan, commander of the South China Sea fleet.

"Could we use it for national defense?" asked General Xung.

"If we had planes for them," said Admiral Quan, his superior Admiral Zhuo nodded in support.

"Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group (2) did obtain designs for the MiG-29 a few years back, but we don't have the exact blueprints for the MiG-29K," said General Wong, commander of the People's Liberation Air Force. "We have perfectly intelligent people so I'm sure Chengdu Inc. could build a plane with carrier-borne capabilities or build the MiG-29K with what we know about with the actual blueprints."

"How long?"

"… I don't know," said General Wong, "they have been putting up a few proposals, but they haven't decided on anything yet. They're also considering a variation of the MiG-19 as a carrier fighter-bomber."

"Make them hurry, I don't think we'll have long before NATO is landing troops on the continent."

"Where will they strike?" asked one man.

The men and women of the Chinese and North Korean armed forces were silent while they thought about this depressing, but urgent subject.

"Invading the People's Republic is not likely," said General Chen, "they would risk being annihilated by the full strength of the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Korea would present a very appealing invasion spot. It's close to them and they would undoubtedly want to regain the ground they lost since the start of the war."

"Okay, firstly, the Army should be deployed to the Korean Peninsula. Secondly the Air Force should be on high alert because NATO will eventually start attacking us from the air. Thirdly the Navy should withdraw offensive operations and defend our coastlines incase they attack the homeland and more should be deployed to Korea or at least near Korea," ordered General Xung to his commanders.

"We don't have enough ships for that," protested Admiral Zhuo.

"Yes we do, I'm calling off the invasion of Taiwan," ordered General to the indignation of his comrades.

"But…"

"Unless the Navy has more ships than I last checked, I don't think we can spare them for an invasion when we're on the defensive," said General Xung in anger. "I've been told the Americans may have expected it and the Taiwanese have prepared defenses. I do not want to draw out any more countries into this war!"

"… very well General Xung, the 4th Fleet will be pulled from Hong Kong to Shanghai. There they can still be close to Taiwan, but in easy range of the Strait of Korea," said Admiral Quan grudgingly. Other commanders looked annoyed their invasion of Taiwan was to be called off. Who… or better yet **how**, would they explain the calling off of the invasion of Taiwan to their soldiers or the Central Government in Beijing when they'd promised victory?

"Who would lead their invasion?" asked General Chen.

"… probably General O'Grady, commander of American forces in the West Pacific and acting commander of NATO forces in this region," said someone.

"And what units would be in the attack?" asked General Chen.

"Undoubtedly the US 3rd Marine Division, they're normally stationed in Korea so they'd be very familiar. Probably as many RoKA divisions as possible would be deployed. Uh… probably some of the US 4th Armored Division and the US 17th Airborne which are stationed in Japan. The British 30th Royal Guards Armor Division, the German 6th Panzer Division, German 13th Fallschirmjäger Reginment, Canadian 1st Infantry Division, French 1st Foreign Legion Division, and Turkish 10th Mechanized Infantry Division are likely units to be deployed in Korea as well since they were all deployed to defend the south from our invasion," said General Xiao.

"Liberation," corrected a North Korean officer. The North Koreans did not consider the invasion of South Korea as an invasion… or acknowledge the existence of the Republic of (South) Korea and the sovereignty of their government.

"Also, Belgian, Dutch, Danish, Austrian, Italian, Albanian, and Greek units are being sent over which means every NATO member state is joining the war in military action," said General Huang ignoring the North Koreans statement.

"Intelligence reports also state that the Swiss and Australians are considering joining the war," said General Cheung, the man in charge of Chinese military intelligence.

"What Japanese units would be deployed?" asked General Wong.

"That is a good question," said General Cheung. He flipped through his notes and said, "The Japanese drafted a lot of people during the first two months of the war, so their military expanded a lot. Also they restructured their arm forces when they official became a full fledge military from being a self-defense force."

"But who would they send?"

"… they had an airborne brigade which was expanded into five airborne divisions, so they would be likely selection. That or one of their newly formed marine divisions… the 6th Division has been in all the major battles since Pusan, they'd be the Japanese's most experienced unit," said General Cheung. "It gets worse too, the Japanese are building an aircraft carrier in the United States plus three or more cruisers. A source in the US navel construction yard at Puget Sound says the cruisers have more advanced missile systems than their American counter-parts because they will be, along with the carrier, the primary strike for on the Japanese Federal Navy."

The People's Liberation Navy's officers groaned. "As if it wasn't bad enough that the Japanese had nearly twice our numbers in surface ships, now they'll have long range offensive capabilities."

"Can we attack the ports they'd be using as staging areas?" asked General Xung.

"… maybe with cruise missiles," said one general.

"What about with aircraft?"

General Wong shook his head, "Too many interceptors, NATO has full air superiority over Japan. Besides, they will be attacking us soon."

"We have FROG (Free Rocket Over Ground) launchers we got from the Soviets back in the '80s," said a PKA general.

"Okay, we'll move them to the Strait of Korea where they should be in range on Japan. Even if they can't it the Japanese main islands they could still hit their radar sites on Tsu Island," said General Xung pointing to a small island roughly in between Korea and Japan. "Until then, ladies and gentlemen I bid you good day and call this meeting adjourned."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**0900 Hours; August 10****th****, 2010; NATO Eastern Asia/Pacific HQ, Yokohama; Kanagawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

(Please assume this section is in English)

"Ladies and gentlemen of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, I wish you all good morning," said General O'Grady. "First order of business, what is the status of law and order in the war torn areas of Japan?"

General Kugashi, commander of the Japanese Federal Army, answered the question, "Law enforcement has been restored in most of the cities, but they're not fully in place. It may take a few weeks, but most people seem to want to return to normalcy."

"Any problems with looting?" asked Maj. General Garcia, commander of the US 3rd Marine Division.

"Yes, but the amount of looting went down yesterday," said General Sawaji, commander of Southern Forces HQ. "I am seeing to it that restoring normal services like police, garbage pick up, postal service, electricity, etc are made a priority."

"The next order of business is to create a plan for the invasion of Korea," said General O'Grady.

"We need to strike soon before the communist get defenses up," said General Erickson, commander of the British land forces deployed to the Far East.

"I think we should wait a little," said Admiral Mizuryū, former commander of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces and now current commander of the Japanese Federal Navy. "Our carrier and cruisers will be completed by the end of the month and we could have it brought here by early September."

"Another carrier could only help," said Admiral Benson. "So far we have four of our carriers the Eisenhower, George Washington, Harry S. Truman, and Enterprise. One British carrier the Invincible. And the Germans have just brought in the FGS Prussian (3), formerly known as the USS John F. Kennedy. If the Sutsuru was part of the invasion we would have a total of seven carriers in action, I know it may sound like more than we need, but we are going to need a lot of supporting ships for sheer size of the invasion considering we're attacking with all the South Koreans soldiers who we evacuated from Pusan and that would be a couple million of them."

Many officers nodded in assent thinking that it would be a good idea to take full advantage of their more powerful navel forces.

"Brigadier General Lennox, what can the communist use against us while we assemble an invasion force?" asked General O'Grady to a man in his late 50s.

Lennox looked up with a vague analyzing stare. He played with a pencil in his hands twirling it while he considered the question, "FROG launchers or something similar to the Scud missile launchers could be used against us. My people have pinpointed most of their locations."

"How would be the best way to destroy them?" asked a Turkish officer.

"While they're in transit," he said simply. "And I'd do it with the F-117 Nighthawk."

"That would be easy to arrange, just pass the info to my people," said General Mary Rosnic, USAF commander in the west pacific.

"What about the landing?" asked a Canadian vice admiral.

"Attacking the southern coast would be the most likely choice for us since it is closest to the coast," said a British rear admiral. He peered closely at a map of Korea, "We could send a flanking landing force to this city on the Yellow Sea called Kusan so that they can't concentrate their forces on one location."

"The carriers could cover that attack, but it needs more fine-tuning," said Admiral Benson.

"We should start with bombing them from the air," said a German Luftwaffe Oberst (colonel). "They have placed fighters and fighter-bombers in several air bases that use to belong to the RoKAF (Republic of Korea Air Force). I can have some of my squadrons plan an attack and wipe them out given a couple of days."

"Let's not get carried away," said General Takahashi Mondo, commander of the Japanese Federal Air Force. "I think we should start with small probing raids in locations with nothing to do with the invasion so we can figure out their overall air defense network and confuse them to the location of the attack. Then, we organize a series of large air strikes on target zones for later on and really hurt them."

"Yeah, now we have the upper hand we shouldn't rush into things," agreed a Canadian lt. general, other officers nodded too.

"So, about invasion craft?" asked a US rear admiral.

"Mmmm, do we have enough of LCAC (landing craft air-cushioned) (4)?" asked someone.

"For our 3rd Marine Division," said Admiral Benson, "but not enough for an invasion of the size we're talking."

"We have a few in service, but it's less than a dozen. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries just bought licensing from Avondale Gulfport Maine earlier in July and they've built some since that haven't been put into service yet. We could have more built by the end of the month," said Admiral Mizuryū.

"We have can have some our LCACs sent over from Briton," said a British navel officer.

"Great, Admiral Benson do me a favor and see if San Diego or Pearl Harbor can send over some more LCACs, heavy tank landing craft, and amphibious assault ships," said General O'Grady. "And maybe send for some more choppers."

"Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is building SH-60 Sea Hawks and CH-53E Super Stallions for our military," said General Kugashi.

"We'll in the mean time, I'll put in that call to Central Pacific Command and East Pacific/North American West Coast Command," said Admiral Benson making a note of it on a notepad. Most of ships they currently had over in Japan were warships. They would need a lot more auxiliary, supply, and support ships for an amphibious invasion. They would also need more transport planes. They would also need to stockpile supplies for the troops and transport them to the beachheads once they had secured them. On the bright side, NATO had more experience than China or North Korea in amphibious assaults, especially after World War II. They also had a much larger navy and better airlifting capabilities than either the Chinese or North Koreans or both combined.

They continued their discussions on the invasion of Korea.

"Then it is agreed?" asked General O'Grady; everyone nodded. "Okay then. While we strike at their FROG launchers will send U2 spy planes over the Korean Peninsula to see what they have on the 12th. B-1 Lancers will be sent to hit specific targets in the in North Korea on the 14th; they won't have any real value, but they should confuse the communist when they hit Chongjin (5) and assume we'll attack the north. We'll decide on our major air campaign and I want a decision made by the 15th. I also want to commence major combat air operations over Korea by the 30th at the least. Understood?"

The officers nodded.

"I think that is all, unless someone has any questions or comments" asked General O'Grady. "No? Then, let's call it a day for now."

* * *

I know this is a bit shorter than most of my previous chapters, but I like this chapter a lot more then the one before. I have no idea what the next chapter will be about… maybe Shinhachi again or something… actually I do need to go back to him at some point soon. So it'll either be that or Harima or something like that. 

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. Most people may know the corvette as a car. The car is actually named after a ship class. Corvettes, sometimes called escort destroyers, are a warship class that is between 60 to 100 meters long used purely as an escort warship. It's smaller than a frigate. North Korea doesn't have a very large navy, the PKN doesn't even have any destroyers. The largest ship serviced by the PKN is a frigate and they only have like 4 or 5 of them.

2. Chengd Aircraft Industry Group is one of the major Chinese aviation corporations. They make planes for the People's Liberation Air Force such as the J-7 and J-10.

3. FGS stands for Federal German Ship. The Germans do not use this ship prefix or any ship prefix.

4. The landing craft air-cushioned (LCAC), also called the air-cushioned landing craft, is what people call the hovercraft used as landing craft. Most of you may know the old Higgins boats used during World War II, most notably the Operation: Overlord (the invasion of Normandy). LCAC has replaced most landing craft like the Higgins boats in several navies including the United Kingdom, United States, and Russia.

5. Chongjin is a port city on the Sea of Japan in the People's Democratic Republic of (North) Korea. Like most of North Korea, not a lot of information is available about what goes on. It's also not that far from North Korea's border with Russia.


	35. Chapter 35: Content with the World

Well here is another chapter. I'm going do my best with this chapter like I do with all of them. Hopefully it'll turn out okay, but what do I know? Well enough to write 35 chapters.

Thank you all my readers. Thanks to ya'll I've topped 2000 hits. Thank you to Perrou, evelsaint93, and savageking for adding my story to your favorites. Thank you Canada, for some reason your people seem to like my story. Also, please **don't** send anymore reviews to my email account because I usually don't check for days. If you leave a review (and I would appreciate it) then click on the review button and type one.

Please review because I like to know what ya'll think and it tends to encourage me to write more.

I don't own any anime/manga or any trademarked item. To the people who do own these products, just think of me as free advertising.

* * *

**Chapter 35: Content with the World**

"Please tell us how you became aware of our product:

A) Military Surplus

B) Black Marketeering

C) Show Room

D) Negative Experience Opposing One

E) Heard A Loud Noise And Looked Up"

A joke McDonnell-Douglas Aviation order form

**1600 Hours; August 14****th****, 2010; Mercer Island, Washington State; United States of America**

(Please assume this chapter is in English unless stated otherwise)

Jack Shinhachi was driving down I-90 on his way home. He had spent the day with his visiting cousin, Sachiko, or as she liked to be call 'Sachi'. She lived in a city called Yagami and her parents worked in the US consulate in Yokohama and they were visiting for a few weeks.

It was a nice day out and he decided to take her out and around Seattle. They went to the fish market that Seattle was famous for, watched a Mariners game, watched the Mariners lose again (1), walked around the waterfront, rode on a waterfront trolley, went to the Space Needle's observation deck high above Seattle (2), and had a nice time.

"Yugoslavian troops continue their invasion of Croatia and Slovenia. Fighting appears to be increasingly fierce as air and artillery pound the border providences on both sides. Civilian deaths are believed to be high and reports of human rights abuse are coming from the battlefront," said an NPR newscaster.

"In other news, Israel has once again ceased off the Gaza Strip. International leaders criticize the Israeli decision," said a female newscaster. "Also in Middle Eastern news, a bomb blast today rocked the Beirut transit system killing 12 people and injuring 55 others. No group has claimed responsibility yet, but the Lebanese blame a joint Syrian-Lebanese group."

"Is American news always this depressing?" asked Sachi.

"A lot of the time yes, but for me, it's important to know what's going on in the world," said Jack as he drove down the highway. "Besides, would you prefer the Soviet's news where they say how everything from crime rate to the weather is better than in the 'poor capitalist nations'."

Sachi shrugged and reached for the dial and changed stations. Eventually, she found a station she liked and listened to My Chemical Romance singing their song Teenagers:

They're gonna' clean up your looks

With all the lies and books, to make a citizen out of you

Because they sleep with a gun, and keep an eye on you son

So they can watch all the things you do

Because the drugs never work!

They're gonna' give ya' a smirk

Because they got method of keepin' you clean

They're gonna' rip off your heads

Your aspirations to shreds!

Another cog in the murder machine

They say that

Teenagers scare the living shit out of me!  
They can care less as long as somebody else will bleed!

So darken your close

Or strike a violent pose

Maybe they'll leave ya' alone, but not me!

Even though Sachi spent most of her life in Japan, she spoke fluent English and understood what she was hearing. She vaguely wondered if she should be hearing this 'mature language' at her age and if her cousin should be letting her hear them, but then again as he so wisely said, 'I ain't you parents.'

The boys and girls in the clique

The awful names that they stick

Your never gonna' fit in much kid

But if you troubled and hurt

What you got under your shirt

Will make them pay for the things that they did!

They say that

Teenagers scare the living shit out of me!  
They can care less as long as somebody else will bleed!

So darken in your close

Or strike a violent pose

Maybe they'll leave ya' alone, but not me!

The song then cut to a bunch of electrical guitar playing.

They say that

Teenagers scare the living shit out of me!  
They can care less as long as somebody else will bleed!

So darken in your close

Or strike a violent pose

Maybe they'll leave ya' alone, but not me!

All together now!

Teenagers scare the living shit out of me!  
They can care less as long as somebody else will bleed!

So darken in your close

Or strike a violent pose

Maybe they'll leave ya' alone, but not me!

The song ended. Sachi was surprised it was such a short song compared to most songs which were usually more than 3 minutes.

After a while they reached the Shinhachi households and drove on in. Jack noticed a familiar 1967 Oldsmobile 442 (3) parked in front of his house.

He walked inside. Sachi dashed upstairs to the guest room she was staying in, eager to take a nap after a long day of walking around Seattle. Jack too wanted to take a nap, but he had things to do. He walked over to a closed and knocked.

"Come in," called an authoritative voice.

Jack walked in and bowed, "Konnichiwa (good afternoon) Oto-san."

James Sousuke Shinhachi, commonly called Jim by his friends and business associates, was a senior staff member in the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, a subdivision of the United States Department of Treasury. The primary offices were in New York, Chicago, Dallas, and Denver and their headquarters in Washington DC, naturally.

The OCC also had offices (4) in set up all the major cities of the United States and even one in London, England.

"John, did you and Sachiko-chan have a nice time?" he asked looking up from a report on his desk.

"Yes we did, I took her to see a ballgame. We lost again."

His father sighed at the Mariners latest defeat.

"Anything new?" he asked his father, referring to his papers.

"Hai, we're looking over a Bank of America in Tacoma. They've been giving a lot of bad loans and they can't make up for their losses," said Jim with contempt in his voice. Jack didn't blame him, it pissed him too that banks mindlessly handed out loans which tended to hurt their customer and the national economy more than the management. "What about you?"

"I sent some files on to Yokohama. Tomorrow the Air Force is gonna' start some air operations, but I've already said too much by naming the date," said Jack. "… and I need a couple thousand dollars."

"For?"

"Guns."

"Doesn't the Army supply you with guns?"

"Like the Army and Marine Corps was supposed to supply bulletproof vests to our soldiers in Iraq?" asked Jack with a raised eyebrow. "The military tries to keep up with the needs of soldiers like new weapons, vests, night vision goggles, head mounted radios, etc, but they either don't have the budget or don't have the inventory immediately available to supply everyone."

"Well the system is never perfect and we all should know since we're all part of the system," said Jim as he went back to reading the report. "What guns do you need?"

"I wanted to replace the Colt M-16A3s and A5s we have with H&K G-416, the version with the 20 inch barrel. Also I want to replace any Colt M4A1s with the G-416 14.5 inch barrel version. I'd like these guns with a laser dot scope with x4 zoom, laser pointers, some of my soldiers will want handle grips, and maybe attachable flashlights for them too," said Jack reading from a list he pulled out of his jacket pocket.

"Is that all necessary?" asked Jim.

"Most Delta units have pretty nice equipment. Maya's unit has the H&K G-36C and even the SIG SG-550. Another platoon leader, Major Wonbosi, he has the G-416 and was the one who recommended it to me as tougher, more reliable, and more accurate than the M-16 or M4A1. Plus this is to be used on a nation that attacked and invaded the land of our family's origin. Also, the East Asian communist aren't exactly a group of pushovers… of course nor are the European communist like Russia, Ukraine, Poland, and other Warsaw Pack states. We do need this equipment."

"… I'll talk to Oto-sama," said Jim referring to his father and Jack's grandfather.

"Arigato Oto-san," said Jack with a bow. "I will speak with Emma's family. I'm hoping the fact her father likes me will help get me some discount… I'm also prepared to beg."

"I should hope not," said Jim, he had a hard time telling when his son was joking or not. He was also not sure weather that was due to his lack of spending time with his son or his son spending his time in the Army.

Jack walked up to his office and sat at his desk. He quickly scanned through the report he and Maya had written after they had talked to Anya. That was not a pleasant conversation, but it was a vital and she did thank them for the warning. Hopefully Premier Bolotnikov would heed his daughter's warning. Actually, Maya and Jack were rather surprised to how calmly Anya handled the situation and took action quickly.

He would eventually send this report to all the US Intelligence Community which included 16 agencies, each with its own subdivisions. The main branches of the United States Intelligence Community, inclusive of government and military and they HQ's locations, are as follows:

**Independent Agencies:**

-Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Langley, VA

**United States Department of Defense (DoD):**

-Counter-Intelligence Field Activity (CIFA), Washington DC and in various classified locations

-Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Agency (AFISR or AIA), Lackland AFB, Texas

-Army Military Intelligence, Fort Belvior, VA and Fort Huachuca, AZ

-Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Washington DC and the Pentagon; Arlington, VA

-Marine Corps Intelligence Activity (MCIA), Quantico, VA

-National Geospatial-Intelligence Activity (NGA), Bethesda, MD

-National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), Chantilly, VA

-National Security Agency (NSA), Fort Meade, MD

-Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), Suitland, MD

**United States Department of Energy (DoE):**

-Office of Intelligence, Washington DC

**United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS):**

-Office of Intelligence & Analysis, Washington DC

-Coast Guard Intelligence (CGI), multiple offices in most major ports including Seattle

**United States Department of Justice (DoJ):**

-Federal Bureau of Investigation; Directorate of Intelligence (FBI DI), Washington DC

-Drug Enforcement Agency; Office of National Security Intelligence (DEA ONSI)

**United States Department of State (DoS):**

-Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), Washington DC?

**United States Department of Treasury (DoT):**

-Office of Intelligence and Analysis, Washington DC

It was a long list and each of these agencies reported to a specific part of the government and/or military and/or black ops. Primarily Jack and Jason reported to Army Military Intelligence. Task Force Delta was technically a subdivision of the AMI, officially Delta Force didn't exist. Somehow, Jack didn't think the DoE's intelligence service would care since their main concern was the security of the nation's nuclear power plants… which was important, but not relevant to this situation.

Naturally the CIA, NSA, INR, AMI, DIA, ONI, and AFISR would be the service branches that would want this information the most. Jack was also supposed to report to the CIFA. Even Brig. General Lennox didn't know Jack and Jason were counter-intelligence (CI) officers who, in addition to their normal duties, were watchdogs that over saw Delta's Asian operations for corruption or leaks or operators 'overstepping their authority'.

"Hey, Jack," said a familiar voice.

"Jason, what's up?" asked Jack as Jason entered the office.

"I've been over to Puget Sound Naval Yard," said Jason taking a seat at a second desk which was for him. "We found the mole. He called himself Seaman Alan Mao, a Chinese-American from New York."

"And his real name?"

"Wouldn't give it to us, but CFI did take his computer and found he sent something to an IP address in Beijing," said Jason.

"CFI?"

"It was a crime committed on a US naval base and he was arrested on a civilian port… and we're Army. The Coast Guard and Navy have jurisdiction," said Jason annoyed that the CFI and ONI took the guy they'd tracked down.

"So, what'd he send to the PLA?" asked Jack.

"As far as we can tell, they reported the JNS Sutsuru (5) CVN-01 to the Chinese. We also think he reported the status of the CVN-81 Ford Class aircraft carrier being built in Puget Sound (6)."

"Guess we can't do anything else until the CFI are done with him," said Jack. He checked his watch and said, "We'll get a little more work done and then we'll have to leave. We're meeting them at 7:30. Okay?"

"Got it," said Jason.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**1915 Hours; August 14****th****, 2010; Carlyle Grille, Bellevue; Washington State, United States of America**

Emma checked her watch. She wondered where Jack and Jason were. She wasn't sure how much longer she could stand her cousin and her cousin's husband before she lost it and introduced them to her H&K P-8.

"Relax Emma," whispered a girl with pale skin, freckles, reddish-brown hair, and brown eyes. Virginia Lassiter too was prepared to attack Emma's cousin.

"So, Emma dear?" asked the arrogant voice of Maryanne Klein, Emma's visiting cousin from Hamburg. "I hear you're alone… again."

Emma didn't say anything. She knew Maryanne was trying to pull her into a trap in which she would be humiliated in front of her friends. Fiona Gross, one of Emma's other friend opened her mouth to defend her friend, but closed it in the face of Maryanne's infuriating, but intimidating smirk.

"It's okay Emma," said Maryanne. Ever since they were kids, Maryanne always loved to torment Emma. Always acting so superior. She wouldn't have let her come with her friends if her aunt and uncle made her introduce them to Emma's friends and Emma's parents didn't seem to get how evil her cousin was. Maryanne was only here for Emma's brother's wedding tomorrow.

"What's okay?" asked Emma through gritted teeth.

"It isn't your fault you have such bad taste in men or your fault you're so small and scrawny," said Maryanne with pure pleasure in every word that she knew was hurting Emma.

"I am too dating someone and he's everything I could ever want!" an enraged Emma shouted suddenly. A ringing silence fell on everyone. Maryanne was catch completely off guard as if Emma had punched her in the face and everyone else wondered how Emma would get out the lie.

"And who is this man?" asked Maryanne regaining her composure and quite she Emma was lying.

"Uh…" Emma stuttered.

"Hi Emma, you look nice tonight," said a familiar voice behind Emma.

"Him, he's my boyfriend," Emma said grabbing Jack Shinhachi who'd just walked up to their table and barely said hello.

'Forget my plan,' thought Maya to herself smiling, 'this could work much better.'

Using his well honed skills in grasping a situation almost instantly, Jack noted Emma was clinging to his arm, a unfamiliar women she was glaring at, and Fiona and Ginny both nodding in a way that said, 'go with it.'

To Emma's shock and relief she felt a warm hand lace around her fingers. "Who's this?"

"My cousin Maryanne and her husband Fredrick," said Emma loving the look of spite crossing her cousin's face.

'So this is the Maryanne that Emma wants to kill,' thought Jack to himself, 'well… let's have a little fun.'

"I'm John Shinhachi," said Jack holding out his hand.

Maryanne shook it glaring at him, "So what do you do?"

"I'm a lieutenant colonel in the special forces. Actually I'm just on a month's leave from Japan after fighting the People's Liberation Army and People's Korean Army. You may have heard we've just achieved a huge victory over the communist forces."

Emma could've kissed the man full on the mouth, she knew Jack was a master of destroying bullies verbally and he was using his skills to get the revenge she wanted for years. Oh, how she loved this moment.

"Oh, well Fredrick was just in Washington in the Pentagon. Isn't that right?" she said to a man next to her who didn't seem to talk unless she let him.

"Yes, I was in the Washington and drove to the Pentagon and the CIA, you know they are all near each other? And I was to discuss a deal with the US Military? Then I got on a flight out of Regan and flew back home and…"

"That's a pile of bullshit," interrupted Jack, "Firstly, the Pentagon and CIA are not in Washington DC. The CIA has their HQ in Langley, Virginia and the Pentagon is in Arlington, Virginia. Secondly, Regan National Airport is a national airport, they don't have flights that go outside of the US. And finally, I know every deal we do with weapons companies, especially foreign ones; I know Heckler & Koch aren't scheduled to meet with the Department of Defense until next week and the CIA hasn't planned on meeting with H&K in the relatively near future."

'This is working better than what I had planned,' thought Maya. 'Guess they don't need me.'

A waiter brought them diner and they all settled into silence.

"So," spoke up Kevin von Ritter. "How'd that lead I sent you two turn out?"

"We traced the email to a Chinese spy in Puget Sound, but the Coast Guard has jurisdiction since he was compromising the security of a US naval base," said Jason.

"Did you get those recon photos from yesterday?" asked Sean Connors.

"Yup, if you drop by I can give you a copy. Oh, how's training Israeli pilots?" asked Jack.

"Okay, they eager to learn and I think I'm pretty much done. SOCOM will probably send me back to Denmark or Turkey where I may get to go back to buzzing Soviet fishing boats again which is always fun. Ya' know, waiting their faces when we get up close and personal…"

"Excuse me, but could we discuss something else?" asked Maryanne rudely.

"Like?" asked Emma sweetly in a way she knew would drive her cousin up the wall.

"Is your boyfriend coming to your brother's wedding tomorrow?" she asked.

Emma felt her stomach clench; she hadn't told Jack about that.

"Well… I… uh," stuttered Emma.

"I did get an invitation," said Jack honestly. "Though… I may have left it in my office in Yokohama. At the time I didn't think I'd be back in time for it and in SOCOM it's hard to schedule these things."

"But won't you be busy?" asked Maryanne thinking he was lying.

"Well… I was gonna' head over to the CFI's office in Seattle, but I think they'll be more willing to talk if I make it seem like I've got more important things than talk to them. Plus I need to speak with Mr. Heckler about a few deals."

"Why would he want to?" asked Fredrick.

"Because I'm an advisor to Japanese Federal Military and they've been asking me whether they should buy from Glock or SIG Sauer. Heckler & Koch doesn't have done much business in Asia. I could change that."

He and Emma smirked, united against their newly sworn enemies.

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**0900 Hours; August 15****th****, 2010; the Heckler's household, Kirkland; Washington State, the United States of America**

"And that's what happened last night," said Emma to her brother, her soon-to-be sister in law, her mother, and her father. Emma had spent most of the morning trying to explain to her family as to why they needed to pretend Jack had been her boyfriend for the past few months.

"Emma, I really think you're over exaggerating…" started her mother, Heidi Heckler.

"Mama, she's not," said Paul Heckler, Emma's older brother. "I didn't even invite her. She invited herself."

"Is she the really nasty one that implied I was a whore?" asked Alexandra Muir, Paul's fiancé.

"Ja (yes)," answered Emma dryly.

"And Jack is the man in the military and whose family controls virtually all the Federal Government branches in this state?"

"Ja."

"He's nice. Why can't we have him come instead of her?" asked Alexandra.

"I did Alex. I did," said Paul.

"Can he really get the Japanese to buy from us?" asked Henry Heckler, Emma's father.

"I know Jack. He could give his commendation to you instead of SIG Sauer or Glock."

"I've never been able to sell more than a couple hundred MP-5s to Japan. What kind of deal?"

"You're gonna' have to talk to him about that. Also, he needs G-416s. About six with the 20 inch barrels and twelve with the 14.5 inch barrels," said Emma.

"What happened…?" he started.

"Stolen," she said. "If there isn't anything else then I'm going to get ready."

Emma went to her room. It was a large room with a balcony that had a beautiful view of Mt. Rainer, one of four volcanoes in the state and one of its most well known icons. Everyone knew Mt. Rainer; it was on the license plates, on the state quarter, and on several other souvenirs.

Anyways, in her room was a dresser, a walk in closet, and other things you'd expect in a girl's room.

The only unusual items was a gun locker with all of Heckler & Koch's handgun models; the P-8, which was a variation of the USP 9mm that was standardize by the Bundeswehr, was her favorite. Another unusual item was a large desk littered with her latest manga which she wrote her manga. The first chapter of her new manga was ready, but she didn't know any publishers that would produce it.

She stripped off the long white shirt she wore while sleeping. She then changed her into fresh underwear. Next she pulled on a narrow black skirt that ended just past her knees that greatly reflected the nice shape of her legs and hips. She also put on a sky blue tang top, it was a little snug, but it was mostly tasteful in it covered her stomach and wasn't too relieving. Finally she put on a thin black jacket similar in style to blazer. She'd pulled her hair into a loose ponytail and curled some of her bangs so they flowed down her cheek. Emma applied light makeup and a light pink lipstick. She smiled at her reflection; she hadn't cleaned herself up like this in months.

She grabbed her handbag with her cell phone, small makeup kit, pepper spray, P-8, and a couple of loaded clips of 9x19mm cartridges. Jack and Jason's paranoid ways of always keeping a gun near by rubbed off on her a little, plus some of the strange military types would be coming so it didn't hurt to be armed… just in case. Also she was hoping for a reason to shoot her cousin.

She walked downstairs and waited by the front door. Alexandra had already left and gone upstairs to change. The wedding was to be held in the backyard; they had a nice open area with a great view of the lake that separated Seattle from Kirkland and Bellevue.

**Knock, knock**

Emma opened the door and stared in awe. Jack was wearing his full dress uniform which she'd never seen him wear before. It was dark blue-black with gold buttons and a sky blue strap that went over his right shoulder. He had a white button shirt underneath, dark blue-black pants, black tie, black rim officer's cap, tunic that matched his pants, and gold trim in various parts of his uniform. He had silver oak leafs on his shoulder marking him as a lieutenant colonel and his 1st Special Operational Detachment-Delta patch on his sleeve. On his tunic was a European service ribbon, Afghanistan service ribbon, East Asian service ribbon, expert marksmen award, a Purple Heart with a number stitched on it for every time he was wounded, a Bronze Star, and Silver Star pinned to him. He was perfectly shaven for once in his life and his hair pushed to the side with a wave on the front.

He'd never looked so clean or looked so… so… sexy in his life, or at least that's what Emma thought.

In turn Jack was admiring Emma's appearance, noting she too had put a fair about of time in her appearance for today.

"Is it wise to be in uniform?" Emma finally asked. "My family will be on you like vultures and try to sell you anything."

"I am in the market, plus your cousin is gonna' hate seeing me in full dress uniform with all my medals and awards and ribbons," he said with a grin.

They headed into the backyard, arm in arm, where the festivities were to begin. Most of Emma's family lived in Germany or on the east coast of the United States. Jack noticed some of the Koch family had come, but than again they were also one of the founders of H&K so as business partners they must have decided to come. Jack was surprised none of his family was here since they collectively had control over or influence over shipping, transportation, and several other aspects of business transactions in the northwest.

"Big family," said Jack.

"Ja, but not all of them are close. Most of them aren't even part of the corporation," said Emma.

"Isn't that your second cousin? The director?" asked Jack curiously pointing to a large man.

"Sorta'. He asked me to be in one of his movies."

"Really? What?"

"Well… uh… he's in the 'adult entertainment business' and he was doing a parody of the movie Never Been Kissed. He called it Never Been Fuc…"

Jack held up his hands and said, "Emma, please. I can guess the rest of the title. So, I guess you weren't interest?"

She glared at him in a 'what do you think and answer that question carefully' sort of way.

A ring tone in Jack's pocket went off.

"Sorry, I need to check this," he said pulled out a PDA.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Air Force is starting combat operations over Korea start today and I just wanted to be on top of it."

"Anything interesting?" she asked craning her neck to see.

"Not really. But it looks like the PKA are confused as to why were bombing cities so far north from where they think we're landing," said Jack with a laugh.

"And where would that be?" asked a voice.

"Sorry, Mr. Heckler, but that's classified," said Jack to Emma's father. They shock hands.

"I've made some arrangements for the G-416s you've requested and now about that deal with the Japanese I would…"

"Not to be rude sir, but why don't we sit down and I'll tell you what they want," said Jack.

Emma wandered off to speak with her cousins, the ones she liked, while Henry and Jack talked.

"The Japanese have decided to change their standard pistol cartridge from the 9x19mm parabellum to the .45 caliber armor piercing cartridge (APC). Right now their either going to go with Glock's P-21 or SIG Sauer's P-220, but if you can offer your USP .45 (7) at a better price and make them available faster than your competitors they'll take the deal and run. I think they would also be interested in any UMP .45s you're willing to throw in," explained Jack.

"So it's a matter of making the weapons available faster than Glock or SIG?" asked Henry.

"I personally think you can supply them with the kind of equipment they need faster than the others. Plus you have a .45 caliber SMG which they'll also want. The Japanese want only the best and they'll pay top dollar for them," said Jack.

"Got it. Well, danke (thank you)," said Henry shaking his hand. "I hear the US is going to be making the same change and…"

"Colt beat ya'll to that a long time ago. The M1911A1 has over 70 years of history as our standard sidearm through both world wars, Korea, and Vietnam. Many soldiers continued to use it today," said Jack patting his holster which was his Colt .45 in it.

Jack sat down on a folding chair. He was sitting on the same row as several Bundeswehr officers and a man Jack recognized as the German Federal Minister of Defense. Jack also recognized some of the officers as members of the German Expeditionary Force that was sent to Afghanistan shortly after the US invasion in 2001.

They watched the service… well, everyone one else watched the service and Jack stared at Emma standing up at the front with her family. She'd never looked so beautiful in her life. After the bride and groom said 'I do' they all watched them walked down the isle. It was a different experience to his family's Japanese weddings which were conducted in silent reverie.

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**1950 Hours; August 15****th****, 2010; Heckler's household, Kirkland; Washington State, United States of America**

Emma was feeling like she'd died and gone to heaven. Her evil cousin was off somewhere sulking. She'd gotten to slow dance with Jack while everyone admired her and him together in all their glory. She'd even caught the bouquet. Oh, her life felt so good since he'd gotten back.

'Where's Jack?' she wondered suddenly releasing he wasn't in sight. 'He's not a social person and crowds of this size would get to him eventually.'

She wandered over towards the pine trees grew around a creek that flowed through a corner of their property, the kind of place he loved to relax and clear his mind. He'd once told her his personal callsign was Piney Creek because on the creeks where the pines grew at his family's home was where he'd learned to fight, to meditate, and to be a warrior like the samurai of a long dead past of a proud Japanese history.

"John Shinhachi," called out an unfamiliar voice ahead. Emma silently crept through the trees using the skills she'd learned with Jack and his cousins while growing up. She found a perfect observation spot and watched.

"Ah, Hauptmann Edmund Franz," greeted Jack who was standing on a large rock on the edge of the creek, "what can I do for you? ... or is it the KSK who needs me?"

"What is going on in the Union?" asked a large muscular man that Jack called Franz.

"There are many unions. The European Union. The Union Pacific Railroad. The…"

"You know what I mean?!" shouted the man. "Why were you in the Soviet Union?!"

Jack stared at him coldly. "Why does the KSK need to know?"

"Because we're on the frontlines if the Warsaw Pack is up to something and the USSR runs the WP. You think France, England, Belgium…"

"Don't think I underestimate our EU allies' strength or intelligence," said Jack coldly. Emma watched with wrapped attention wondering what Jack knew that German special forces wanted and why this man thought Jack was in Russia when he was supposed to have been in Japan.

"One of our agents saw you and your second in command in Vladivostok and saw you leave a couple of days later. You were supposed to have been resting while between deployments against the Chinese. A Red Army division deserted the Soviet ranks and your superiors thought it was necessary to send you and your friend to Russia. Please… as a friend who's helped you in the past," pleaded the man.

Jack sighed, "We were sent because we knew that a unit of that size couldn't escape attention without help."

"And?"

"I won't go into detail because I'm not authorized, but half the KGB and a portion of the Red Army is on board with the coup. We know it's called Operation: Red Revolution. We know it means civil war and revolution in the Soviet Union. We know it would destabilize our relations with the USSR and Warsaw Pack. What we don't know is how or when."

"What can we do?" asked Franz sounding frightened. Emma too was shaking a little; she spent so many years with her war-and-politics obsessed friends that she was able to fully grasp the magnitude of the situation. She saw the embers of a world war burning on the horizon in Eastern Europe. Suddenly, she saw into Jack's world. She grasped the dangers and fears that must fill it. It was so cold and lonely. How did he have the courage to keep moving?

"The man's a ghost. We can't find him and some of our best our hunting him. My guess is that he's in the Caucasus by now," said Jack. Emma realized they were still talking and she'd missed some of it.

"Ingenious, they'd be almost impossible to find in all the fighting around Chechnya… what else?"

"There's nothing else I can tell you without committing treason… or shooting you," said Jack slipping his hand under his tunic and reveling a Glock P-21 with a silencer attached. There was also his preferred Colt .45 in a leather holster at his hip, but the shot would be heard if he used it since it didn't have a suppresser.

"I didn't plan on staying longer anyways. I'll be seeing you," he Franz and he disappeared into the night.

Jack sighed a kicked a pebble into the creek. He was staring up at the full moon in the sky. Silently, Emma walked towards him. She knew he hadn't detected her because he would always tense up his back, shift his arms closer to his gun or knife, and adjusted his legs to evade or escape a threat.

Once she was right behind him, she wraps her arms around him and placed her face into his back. She felt him tense. He grabbed her hand and dug his hand into it as though he was going to rip it apart, but Emma didn't yield… it was him just being paranoid. She felt him relax as he started to recognize her hands and her scent.

Jack shifted and sat down. Emma moved her arms, sat down next to him, and laid her head on his shoulder.

"So… how do you do it?" she asked once comfortable, after several minutes of silence.

"Any soldier needs a reason to live. A reason to want to come home. Whether it's for change, spite, pettiness, family, or love ones. He or she needs a reason... and it has to be stronger than fear because to function in war… you have to have a will to survive… that or you're a radical extremist… or a Republican," he added jokingly in the end nudging her lightly. He laughed a little. What true American after the Bush Administration didn't love to mock Bush and the Republican Party?

"What is it for you?" she asked.

"… you don't remember?" he asked. She shook her head. "You told me before I left for Afghanistan that if I didn't come home alive you'll dig me up, bring me back to life, and kill me personally."

"… you come back for me?" she asked feeling her heart flutter.

"It sounds so cliché when you say it like that," said Jack wryly.

Emma pouted at him, "We having a moment here, don't ruin it."

"Sorry."

"The things I put up with," she muttered to herself. Jack placed his hand on her hand and laced his fingers around hers. She responded by squeezing his hand slightly.

"I've loved you for years you know," he said suddenly.

"Really? I've only loved you for a few months," said Emma with a grin.

"Thanks," Jack said sarcastically.

"Like you can do better than me?" she asked.

He paused for a while, just to get back at a little her before smiling and finally saying, "Nope."

"You love me?"

"Yes."

The next thing Jack knew, Emma was kissing him full on the mouth. He was too shocked react… not that Emma cared; she knew he'd do something given time to process what was happening. For now, she was running a hand through his hair and using the other to draw him in closer. She felt warm arms engulf her and his lips move with hers. He ran a hand through her hair, loving its silky feel. His other hand was slowly rubbing her back in circles. Not entirely sure what he was doing, Jack started to figure out how to slip his tongue into her mouth. She moaned and then started to use hers to explore the inside of his mouth.

After what felt likes days, but was really a couple minutes, they broke apart. She had her head on his chest and he had one arm around her and the other still stoking her hair.

So there was a war in East Asia, the Balkans, and an ultranationalist Stalinist extremist that would probably send the world spiraling out of control into a world war… big deal. They had each other and they felt quite content with the world.

Or at least until Jack had to go back to Japan and worry about the world's problems.

"We're gonna' have to get something to before it's all gone," Emma said after a while when she their stomachs started to growl.

"Great I'm starving," Jack said grabbing Emma by the hand and walking back towards the house.

"So the mention of food and I'm suddenly chop liver?" asked Emma pretending to be offended.

"Of course not… your more like ground beef," he said grinning. Emma punched him in the stomach, but laughed nonetheless.

'It's like we're still best friends, but better,' thought Emma they walked. 'He's my boyfriend.'

* * *

So tell me, do I have any head for romance? If don't, be kind, but tell me. I really can't avoid some romance, because it is part of real life and I need to learn to write it eventually. Than again this is probably better than some of the shit coming out of Hollywood. Next chapter will be air combat as we rejoined Nara Kentaro and the NATO air campaign. Until then, please review.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. The Seattle Mariners of the American Major League, has never once made it to the World Series. I'm a Mariners fan… and it's painful to watch every year when we don't make to the World Series.

2. The Space Needle is the most well known buildings in Seattle. Most people recognize Seattle by it. I went their once, but I was very young and don't really remember it.

3. I know and care **little** about cars. I do have a car obsessed dad and against my own will, I have learned a little about cars. Like the fact his first car was a 1967 Oldsmobile 442.

4. My dad used to work for the Office of Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for some 20 odd years. He 'retired' from his job years ago and now he does the same thing, but for a private firm. In other words I know a fair amount about it. Their objects are to ensure the stability of banks and banking system, create competition so banks compete and offer news services to their customers, ensure that OCC and other Treasury agencies are effective in its regulation of the banking system, and that fair services are offered to all American citizens by banks… or else. It may not be an exciting job, but it's a pretty fucking important one.

5. The ship prefix JDS (Japanese Defense Ship) is the real prefix of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces, but it isn't commonly used. Since **in my story **the Japanese have restructured their forces into a full fledge military, I changed the prefix to JNS (Japanese Navy Ship).

6. Some of you may remember me mentioning the CVN-21 carrier. I recently found that it has been named the Gerald R. Ford Class aircraft carrier. The USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) was started in Northrop-Grumman's ship yard in Newport News, VA on January 16, 2005. It is expected to be complete in 2015. Two additional carriers are scheduled to be built. CVN-79 is expected to be started in 2012 and a proposed name is USS Arizona after the battleship destroyed during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor; it is supposed to enter service in 2018. CVN-80 is to be started in 2021, no further information is available. These carriers will be able to do 30 knots, include various surface-to-air missiles, and hold 75 aircraft. No actual Ford Class carriers are being built in Puget Sound, but Puget Sound does service and repair carriers.

7. The Heckler & Koch **U**niverselle **S**elbstlade**p**istole (USP) is one of H&K's top selling series of handguns. The English translation is Universal Self-loading Pistol. It is available in 9x19mm parabellum, .40 caliber S&W, and .45 caliber APC. The gun comes in multiple versions in different lengths and can mount different equipment such as flashlights, suppressers, silencers, laser pointers, etc. A 9x19mm version called the P-8 is the standard sidearm of the Bundeswehr and most of Heckler & Koch's handguns are based of the USP series.


	36. Chapter 36: Waltz of the Birds of Prey

Sorry ya'll about the long wait, but I've been busy with school (I got into Earlham College and won a scholarship). I've also been helping out with my school's play, I'm on the set crew and the play has a lot of mechanical props which need people on site to repair if they break. Also this chapter was a long one to write; it's over 7,000 words long.

I liked to thank my few, but loyal readers. Ya'll mean a lot to me, I wouldn't have the will to keep a story going this long without you.

**To lambda123**: Thanks for your review. You've given me some of the most constructive criticism I've gotten to date. I know there are flaws in my story and my characters probably have a number of weaknesses, but I'm 18 years old, I have a writing based learning disability, and writing is my worst subject. This whole story is really just an elaborate way to self-improve my writing. Also, I'm prone to long rants and shit like that (thanks to my dad). Right now I'm trying to think of a way to tighten up my plot again… I just wish I knew how, but I'll figure something out.

Also thank you to the anonymous person who left the last review on my story. Also thank you to Perrou for your last two reviews, but I'm not really sure what you mean on either one.

Please review and/or tell a friend.

* * *

**Chapter 36: Waltz of the Birds of Prey**

"When your life can be taken in a split second,

Your commands must be taken even faster"

The back of the box of Ace Combat 5: Unsung War

**1400 Hours; August 19****th****, 2010; Takasu Federal Air Force Base, 15km outside of Kanazawa; Ishigawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

"Good afternoon 201st Fighter Squadron," said Brigadier General Towayashi, commander of the 3rd Air Regiment. Since the start of the war and the transition to being a full fledged air force, Nara's unit had been through several changes in restructuring the change of command and now some of their unit numbers had changed.

"This is Operation: Republic's Thunder. It is a joint NATO air campaign that will begin as of 2000 tonight," said the brig. general. "The first strikes will be by the USAF at Yongbyon Nuclear Research Center (1). We don't know if the facility is still researching nuclear weapons technology, but Command doesn't want to take that chance and so the Americans will send a group of stealth bombers to hit key targets around Yongbyon. Others are going to Pusan, Kunsan, Masan, Taejon, Chongju, and other cities in South Korea that the communist seem to have been fortifying, stockpiling weapons and supplies, or are using as a base of operations. The 201st Fighter Squadron will be flying with the 2nd Bomber Squadron as they head for Taegu were the PKA have set up a base of operations."

"As escorts?" asked Major Tsumoto, commander of the 201st Fighter Squadron also known as White Fox Squadron.

"Sort of… you're going to fly with them to Taegu and then break off formation to being air supremacy sorties with the 200th Fighter Squadron."

"Is this leading up to the invasion?" asked Captain Oneishi, Flight 2 leader.

"Hai," said Brigadier General Towayashi.

"When is that?" he asked.

"I have no idea. Command hasn't given those details yet, but they have informed me it's called Operation: Republic's Typhoon," said Towayashi. "Relax for today, at 0700 you're launching."

Nara wandered the base aimlessly after the briefing. He'd been depressed lately. For the first time in his life he'd started to notice how pathetic his life was… or at least that's how he saw it.

"Oi… uh, what's-your-name, you don't look so good," said Nara's new flight lead, Captain Oneishi.

He sighed. He'd almost always been called things like 'what's your name' and 'uh… you're name's not important, so you' and other shit like that.

"Just a little down sir," he sighed.

"Well, go see the battalion's shrink or something. We need everyone at top form tomorrow," ordered his flight lead.

"Hai."

Nara walked into Major Azai's, m.d., office. She smiled at him kindly and indicated one of those couches every psychiatrist seemed to have.

"Do I call you Major Azai or Dr. Azai?" asked Nara.

"You may call me Judy," she said sitting down in a rolling chair next to the couch.

"Judy? Isn't that a western name?"

"My father and mother named me after an American singer and actress named Judy Garland (2). She was in a movie and sang a really beautiful song called 'Somewhere over the Rainbow'," she said pleasantly.

"Never heard of her."

"Most people outside of America haven't heard of her."

"Really?"

"So why are you here?"

"Depressed I guess," said Nara non-committal.

Major Azai smiled, nobody came here and would openly admit they had a problem… or at least not normally. She'd pulled out her PDA and entered the name on his uniform.

She read quickly, "Nara Kentaro. 2nd Lieutenant. Callsign: White Fox 2-4." She read on. He appeared to be a loner and socially awkward.

"So, Kentaro, how have you been?" she asked in a motherly kind of way, polite and friendly, but with a touch of giving an order to answer the question.

"Okay."

"Then I guess you should leave. There's no need for people that are okay to be here. They should be with their friends," Major Azai said kindly.

"Well… uh…"

"Is there something you want to talk about?" she asked with polite interest.

"… I hate my life," he said with a groan. "Why am I always alone?"

"You tell me," she said.

"I had no friends in junior high school 'cause my family moved around a lot and around the end of my 1st year of high school we settled in one place for a the rest of school. I started to hang around with… well what the girls in my class called the perverts."

"Were they?"

"… then I defended them, but now…"

"You think those girls were right?"

"Probably… they did show me a lot of… uh… adult movies."

"Do you still watch pornography?" she asked mildly.

"Iē (no), they… make me feel worse… feel…"

"Empty?"

"Hai," said Nara surprised that the major had managed to figure out how he felt when he wasn't sure what was wrong.

"It's not an unhealthy response Kentaro, in fact I think it's very healthy. You feel empty and lonely. You crave human contact and I'd be more worried if you wanted to disassociate your self from other people, which is never a good sign for soldiers. Perhaps you should try making new friends or even dating when you get sent home."

"… huh," Nara said processing this info. "Dating, eh?"

"Is there someone you have in mind?" she asked.

Nara shrugged. "There was this girl… she was always so cold and distant… but she treated me like I existed."

"And the others didn't?"

"They could hardly remember my name," Nara said scowling.

"And how is she different?" asked Azai, intrigued. She was also concerned that a 'cold and distant' person wasn't a healthy relationship for a man with low self-esteem and doubts.

"Well, it started with the culture fest (3) in my 3rd year…" began Nara.

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**0800 Hours; October 29****th****, 2009; Yagami High School, Yagami; Kanagawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan **(flashback)

A 17 year old Nara Kentaro in his black high school uniform walked towards the main entrance. He saw Togo from class 3-D directing his classmates in putting up the welcome sign over the main gate.

Nara had come early to help out with what he could. He was hoping to run into Tsukamoto Tenma, but in his heart he knew she loved someone else… and Harima Kenji loved her and he would kill Nara if he wasn't careful, but such was life with Nara.

Nara had no idea that in roughly 6 months he would be in training to fly and die in combat faster than the speed of sound. How could he? In a country that hadn't been at war in virtually nobody's living memory, who would expect it? Or expect to see their country invaded, which in the entire history of Japan had never happened (4)… unless you counted the US occupation which really wasn't an invasion because Japan had surrendered first.

Nara walked over to his locker, removed his street shoes, and put on his school shoes (5). He headed up to class 3-C where class representatives' Ōtsuka Mai and Hanai Haruki were trying to get preparations for their class's café.

"Ohaiyo," Nara said as he walked into through the sliding classroom door.

**BAM!**

Nara narrowly avoided being impaled by a flying fork that lodged itself in the wall next to his head.

"Get back hear!" screamed Sawachika Eri who was chasing Harima around the room for some reason. Why you may ask? At this point Nara and most of his class had given up trying to understand anything in class 3-C. Nothing really did make sense. Nara did however suspect that Sawachika-san had feelings for Harima, but she seemed **violently** entrenched in denial.

"Hige (beardy)!"

"What did I do?!" yelped Harima in the terrifying onslaught of Sawachika-san.

"What'd he do?" Nara asked Fuyuki Takeichi who was taking pictures of Sawachika tried to kick Harima and her skirt lifted a little.

"I think it was something Suō said… ah, what a shot," said Fuyuki as he continued to take pictures.

"Uh, Fuyuki should you being taking those photos?" asked Nara fearing the inevitable.

"Like what?"

"Ē (yeah)," agreed Imadori Kyōsuke, class pervert and a master of guessing bra sizes. Nara didn't really know what good that skill would do for him in life, but it wasn't like he had any talents.

"Hai, so relax and I'll give you some of these…," started Fuyuki, but was cut off when a desk smashed into him and crushing his camera between his face and the desk. It was followed by the desk's chair which smashed into Imadori.

"Oi, perv! Take another one of those dirty pics and it will be the last thing you'll ever do!" said Sawachika.

"Oi… what's your name? Uh… whatever, take Fuyuki-kun and Imadori-kun to the nurse's office," ordered Hanai.

"Hai," sighed Nara.

Nara dragged the unconscious bodies of his friends to the infirmary. He grumbled to himself that even his class representatives didn't know his name. He dumped Imadori, Fuyuki, and the shattered remains of his camera on a bed and left.

"Uh, Hanai-kun, do you need me to do anything?" asked Nara.

"Iē, we're good here. Maybe you should go and help your own class?" suggested Hanai.

"…. This is my class," said Nara slowly as though Hanai was stupid… which he kinda' was.

"Oh… really?"

Nara nodded.

"Since when?"

"Forget it," Nara said disgusted. He stormed out of the room and aimlessly stomped around the school. He didn't really know where he was going, let alone cared.

"Why can't anyone remember my fucking name?" he growled kicking a stretched of wall.

"Nara-kun, could you not kick the wall outside my club," said a calm, but cold female voice.

Nara didn't respond; he wasn't use to being referred to by name at this point. "Nara-kun?"

"Huh? Oh, Takano-san…. uh, gomen," apologized Nara to the ever stoic Takano Akira, president of the Tea Club and classmate of Nara's.

"You seem to be in a bad mood," said Takano seeing right through him like she did with everyone.

"Hai, it's… complicated."

"Mmmm," she said considering him. "You upset because nobody remembers your name and treats you like dirt, right? You feel alone, unwanted, unappreciated, and unimportant, or am I wrong?"

"…………………………. how do you do that?" he asked dumbfounded.

"It's a gift… and a curse," she said with her small crafty smile. "It's really pointing out the obvious facts that everyone just seems to over look."

"Huh," he Nara said still processing this piece of information.

"Come," she commanded.

"Where?" he asked, but started to follow her nonetheless.

"Tea will calm your nerves," she said simply.

"Tea can't solve every problem," he said not really sure why he was arguing.

"Of course not, but it's a good start for solving every problem." Well there wasn't any arguing with that logic because it kinda' was true.

She poured him a cup of tea out of an old Edo Era porcelain tea pot and into a matching cup. She placed a tray of cookies in front of him and then poured herself a cup.

Nara took a sip. He'd never liked tea much because it always seemed to lack flavor, but Takano's brew was warn, strong, sweet, and soothing. He felt like he was floating away on a cloud and in spite of himself, he smiled.

"See?" she said all knowingly.

Nara nodded feeling quite content, "It's good."

"Hai, the whisky I put in there should really help," she said calmly while taking a sip from her cup.

"WHAT?!"

"I was only kidding," she said stoically, but something in her eyes portrayed amusement.

"God, it's so hard to tell with you," he sighed taking another sip. He looked into the half drank cup and brooded. "I don't know why everyone seems to ignore me and treat me like I'm not here."

"Because you don't assert yourself," stated Takano flatly.

"Maybe I'm just worthless," said Nara depressed.

"You're not," Takano said firmly, "you just haven't found your self-worth yet."

Nara wasn't sure if that was a compliment or not.

"You also may need new friends Nara-kun," added Takano, "you're better than those perverts you hang out with. You're too kind and descent."

Nara was stunned and he thought about what she'd said to him. "You know Takano-san… you're a lot nicer person than you let on."

"I know," she said with her cunning smile, but a slight glint in her eyes told Nara that she was… flattered… maybe even embarrassed.

"You bastard Harima! I'll get you for taking advantage of Yakumo-chan!" roared Hanai from somewhere.

"I don't know what you want four-eyes, but bring it on!" roared Harima back.

In total indifferent to the fighting and yelling that was so loud they could hear it from the Tea Club room and was causing the cups, plates, and pots to shake, Takano Akira took another dainty sip from her cup and asked, "It's a rather nice day isn't it?"

There was something calming about Takano's indifferent manner to the chaos of the school that helped Nara tune out the outside world, "Hai, but I hear it's supposed to get cold tonight."

"It is almost November. If you need a coat you can barrow one from that closet behind you."

"Arigato, Takano-san."

"You may call me Akira-san you like, Kentaro-kun," offered Takano in an almost friendly, but still distant tone.

Taken aback at her friendliness Nara nodded. He looked at her, her violet eyes, her dark reddish-purplish hair, and tall thin figure. He noticed how the pleated red skirt showed off her slender legs and the way the blazer clung to her petite body. His eyes rested on her moderate sized chest.

"Kentaro-kun, I think I need to get you away from Imadori-kun," said Takano suddenly.

"Why?"

"Cause for nearly 30 seconds you've been staring at my boobs."

Nara's eyes bugged out and he leaped from his seat and started making apologies while bowing repeatedly.

"It's okay, I'll take it as a compliment," she said frowning slightly, but seeming to be slightly pleased for some reason.

"What are you so happy about?" asked Nara with narrowed eyes.

"Nothing."

"Surely that wasn't the first time a guy has checked you out," stated Nara.

"….."

"Has it?" asked Nara unsurely.

Takano didn't answer.

"…. well, I'm shocked. You're not an unattractive woman… actually you're I think you're pretty good looking," he said kindly.

For the first time in living memory… Takano Akira blushed and smiled. Nara stared open mouthed in what he thought was the single greatest achievement of his life, and he was soaking it in like his life depended on it. It was slowly soaking in that he and her were both kinda' alone and a little outside of the social inner-circle.

"Kentaro-kun?"

"Hai?"

"You're staring again."

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**1800 Hours; August 19****th****, 2010; Office of Major Azai Judith m.d., Takasu Federal Air Force Base; Ishigawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

"And after that I started spending a lot of time in the Tea Club. I even joined the Tea Club," said Nara wrapping up his story.

"Mmm," said Major Azai making notes on a clip board. "Well, I think she understood you quite well."

"Hai, I don't think anyone ever knew me better before her," said Nara solemnly.

"…. so, Kentaro are you going to be ready for tomorrow?"

"….. hai, I'll do my job and then maybe I can go home," said Nara with hope burning in his brown eyes.

Major Azai smiled and said encouragingly, "Never lose that hope. As long as you keep a will to survive, you'll have a much better chance of going home and seeing her again."

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**1950 Hours; August 19****th****, 2010; the tarmac of a Takasu AFB, Ishigawa Prefecture; Federation of Japan**

Nara was walking down the along the hangers and watching mechanics rushing to prepare Mitsubishi F-2s and F-15Js for sortie. Nara looked off towards the main runway where USAF Lockheed-Martin built F-117 Nighthawks, F-22 Raptors, and F-35 Lightening-IIs were lining up and waiting for the signal to launch. Takasu AFB was a large base near the western coastline and was housing several NATO squadrons. The stealth aircraft would strike Yongbyon and bridges along the Yalu River that connected China and North Korea. All these targets were deep in communist airspace and would put its pilots in grave danger Triple-A (anti-air artillery) and interceptors which meant stealth and surprise were their means of survival.

He saw ground crews checking AGM-88 HARM anti-radar installation missiles, CBU-87 cluster bombs, CBU-24 Paveway-III bunker busters, Mk. 82 500lb and Mk. 84 2,000lb general purpose unguided bombs, AGM-65 Maverick guided anti-tank missiles, AIM-9 Sidewinder air to air missiles, AIM-7 Sparrow air to air missiles, the extremely expensive and highly deadly AIM-120 Phoenix air to air missile, and a few types of other bombs meant to destroy runways.

He passed ground crews filling up droppable fuel tanks that would extend planes range.

Mitsubishi F-1s and F-4EJ Phantoms were going through final checks as they would be attacking most of the ground targets while the F-2s and F-15Js flew cover from hostile aircraft. USAF F-15E Strike Eagles, F-15C Eagles, and new F-15G Super Eagles were being prepped for D-Day of Operation: Republic's Thunder. British and German EF-2000 Typhoons fighters and Panavia Tornados fighter-bombers were also being readied and French Dassault Mirage 2000B fighters, Mirage 2000D fighter-bombers, and SEPECAT Jaguars. In other air bases along Japanese western coastline additional Royal Canadian Air Force F-18A Hornets, Turkish Air Force F-16C Fighting Falcons, Italian Air Force EF-2000s, Belgian Air Component and Royal Netherlands Air Force F-16AM Fighting Falcons, and Hellenic (Greek) Air Force Fighting Falcons and Mirages were going to be launched with F-15K Strike Eagles and F-16C Fighting Falcons of the Republic of Korea Air Force (RoKAF).

In about 3 minutes, according to Nara's watch, a dozen squadrons of stealth bombers and fighters would start the operation of thousands of planes of more than a dozen air forces. Nara remembered reading mangas that depicted characters on the eve of a major battle, he wondered if they felt this same mixture of fear, excitement, and uncertainty… they probably did.

He heard the sudden wine of jet turbines starting up that rapidly turned into a roar.

"And they're off," Nara said quietly as F-35s rose vertically into the air and F-22s raced down the runway.

Looking up, Nara spotted a squadron of Northrop-Grumman B-2 Spirit stealth bombers quietly flying towards the Korean Peninsula.

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**0630 Hours; August 20****th****, 2010; tarmac, Takasu AFB; Ishigawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

Nara was riding in a jeep with his flight lead Captain Oneishi Ryusuke, his wing man 2nd Lt. Hyodo Eiji, Nara's new wing leader 1st Lt. Miyazawa Kenichi.

"Major Tsumoto gave me some updates this morning," said Captain Oneishi as he drove Flight 2 to their hanger. "The Americans hit Yongbyon pretty hard last night. The North Korean media managed to keep the raid under wraps so far from their public. They also hit a couple of radar installations and the areas they kept their FROG launchers and the bridges on the Yalu River. Now, they're going to expect us coming, but I doubt they're prepared for the size of this air campaign."

They laughed at that last comment.

"Anyways, everything is ago and we're launching as scheduled at 0700 Hours."

Captain Oneishi parked by hanger #C-32 where four Mitsubishi built (6) F-15Js.

Nara climbed into the plane with the number 057 on the nose and on the tail JFAF FS-201.

A mechanic climbed the ladder on the side of Nara's plane and leaned in, "We replaced one of the hydraulic pumps on your left rudder and put in new hydraulic fluid. We also put in a new M-61 because the barrels were worn out on your old one."

"I appreciate you hard work," Nara said with a nod. His face was a little pale with nerves.

"It's our job and we take pride in it," the man putting a hand on Nara's shoulder and giving it a squeeze. "Good luck and make us proud."

"Will do," said Nara as he slid the canopy shut. The ground crews removed the ladder and refueling lines from Nara's F-15J. A female senior master sergeant checked the droppable fuel tank, AIM-9 Sidewinders, AIM-120 Phoenixes, and gave the plane a final once over before giving Nara a two figure salute to wish him luck and to say he was ready for sortie.

A man with signal paddles was waving Captain Oneishi forward and out of his space in the hanger. He was followed by 2nd Lt. Hyodo and then 1st Lt. Miyazawa. The man turned and waved Nara forward. Nara moved his plane forward, the right, and out of the hanger. He made another right and proceeded to follow his flight to the taxiway.

There were only three main runways on this base and they made frequent stops to wait for a flight to take off.

"Flight 2, White Fox Squadron pull onto the runway," ordered a controller in the control tower.

"Hai… this is White Fox 2-1, standing by," said Captain Oneishi.

"White Fox 2-2, standing by," said 2nd Lt. Hyodo.

"White Fox 2-3, standing by," said 1st Lt. Miyazawa.

"White Fox 2-4, standing by," said 2nd Lt. Nara as he positioned his plane and set the throttle in preparation for take off.

"Flight 2, this is tower. You're clear for take off. Good hunting out there."

"Hai, we're off."

Nara waited for a few seconds to give 1st Lt, Miyazawa, who was slightly in front of Nara, a slight lead so he wouldn't rear end him during take off. Nara rammed his throttle into the full open position.

The sudden G-forces shoved Nara into his seat as Eagle accelerated rapidly. The plane raddled and rumbled, but not in an out-of-the-ordinary-way. It was quite calming, it was all so familiar. The rush, the roar, the lift. He was tearing off into what he heard the Americans call 'the wild blue'.

Nara was now climbing. His plane wasn't accelerating as quickly, but that was because he was climbing so steeply. They leveled off at about 12,000m above sea level.

"Check out the view," said Captain Oneishi. The Sea of Japan was sparkling white where the sun shone and a deep blue where it didn't. In the skies, dozens of squadrons were visible from Nara's point of view, but he new hundreds flying out of bases across Japan and carriers in the Sea of Japan and near the South Korean coastline.

"Look at all of them, Stratofortresses, Eagles, Strike Eagles, Super Eagles, Tomcats, Super Tomcats, Hornets, Super Hornets, Mirages, Rafales, Harriers, Typhoons, Sea Typhoons, Tornados, Sea Tornados, Fighting Falcons, and... aw fuck I can't even name all these planes," said White Fox 3-4 excitedly as he looked around.

"Pretty much every model that's in service with NATO and the RoKAF are up," said White Fox 1-3; she sounded like she was as much in awe as everyone else. "Can you believe this?"

"Iē," laughed Nara, "if you told me I'd be flying a fighter plane in a massive operation… I'd ask you what you'd been smoking."

Nara heard several pilots laugh.

After about an hour Nara saw the coastline below a haze.

"This is AWACS Watchtower, United States Air Force," said a commanding female voice in fairly decent Japanese. "I'd like to be the first to welcome you all to Korean airspace…"

A loud cheer went over the radio.

"We'll be in charge of all squadrons operating in the Kyongsang Province. I personally will be relaying information and orders to all Japanese Air Force pilots and flight crews, Watchtower out."

Below, they saw cities and mountains. Fires and smoke from were visible as some squadrons began to attack targets nearer the coast. The 3rd Air Regiment was heading deeper inland though.

"This is AWACS Watchtower, bandits approaching from vector 095, speed… 600kt. Second ground approaching from vector 047, speed 608kt. White Fox, weapons free, you're clear to engage."

"This is White Fox leader, flight 1 and 2 engage the group in front of us. Flight 3 and 4 engage the group coming from the northwest."

"Hai," responded the flight leads as they dropped their tanks and broke off towards their designated targets.

Nara hit full afterburners and pushed his F-15J Eagle to mach 2 (7), nearly the Eagle's maximum speed.

"Fox White leader, the squadron you're engaging are ascending towards your group, they should come a little below you. We can ID 16 planes as Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23ML Flogger-Gs," said AWACS Watchtower.

'The Flogger…," Nara thought trying to recall what he knew about the plane, 'Soviet built… has a slower max speed than the Eagle, has better missile systems than the Fishbed and has the same GSh-23L 23mm twin auto-cannon.'

He saw them spread out in a long single row, 16 planes wide and one plane deep.

**Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.**

A light buzzing noise started to beat and the word warning appeared on his HUD warning him of a hostile radar lock.

"White Fox 2-4, radar spike," said Nara reporting the lock. He waited and then the displays on his HUD turned red and the buzzing became constant.

"Missile incoming," said Nara calmly. He could see multiple missiles being launched, but only two seemed to be directed at him. He wasn't afraid, this wasn't anything new and he'd seen his first wing leader blown up by Chinese SAMs and a month later he had his second wing leader shot down by a PLAF J-10 last week.

As the missile got closer to him he pulled back on his throttle, dropped IR flares, and rolled right into a hard turn. He reversed his turn maneuvered his plane to make a pass at the Floggers. Nara was coming in a little below the Floggers, he could tell he was closing too fast for a missile; there just wasn't time for it to lock or arm (8). He fired a short burst of 20mm rounds from his M61 gatling gun, but he over shot. Considering that the Eagles and Floggers had a combined speed of mach 3, missing the target didn't surprise Nara.

Once the Floggers passed him, he took this chance to search for his wing leader. He spotted him above Nara; he appeared to have rolled into a corkscrew to soar over the Floggers and was now arcing downwards.

"2-3, this is 2-4, I'm coming in below you," said Nara.

"Rodger that, we're gonna' reverse, engage, and try to single some of them out, over."

"Hai."

'The Flogger can pretty much match the Eagle's vertical and horizontal capabilities… we have a speed advantage and a more up-to-date aircraft,' reasoned Nara in his head. He attended a few lectures after his first wing leader was killed on how the F-15J Eagle compared with Soviet planes in combat; it had been a class that saved his ass a couple of times.

Nara saw the Floggers were just regrouping their formation and were in that row that was like a wall of Soviet built, North Korean bought, military hardware. Nara's eyes narrowed and flicked left and right several times.

"Something's not right," said Nara into his radio mounted inside the oxygen mask all military pilots wore.

"Nani (what)?" asked Miyazawa.

"…….. uh…. I only see 12 planes," said Nara. Suddenly his stomach clenched as if it was being crushed in a vise as he recalled a lecture on Soviet pilot's tactics.

"_The Red Air Force provides a lot of training and/or military textbooks to foreign nations like China, North Korea, Iraq, Serbia, and so on," said an US Air Force advisor, "One important thing to note is that MiG and Sukhoi pilots often like to make a head on pass and then have a couple of planes to break off formation and…"_

Nara instinctively looked up at the sun. The sun's glare was intense. Even with the tinted UV visor that was meant to shield his eyes from the glare it was bad for his eyes, but he knew better than to stare for look for long. He looked for a second and saw a few small black spots that couldn't be natural.

"… _and they like to ambush you by flanking you, so watch out for sudden changes in your enemies' numbers. They attack from underneath in planes like the Fishbed that have good climb rates, but usually they come from sun."_

"They're right above us! Jink right!" screamed Nara.

Miyazawa didn't hesitate; he rolled right with Nara right beside him as volley of 23mm fire streaked towards them. Miyazawa seeing that the Floggers were diving at nearly a 90-degree angle knew he and Nara could get behind them before they could pull out of the dive.

He rolled and Nara followed as they spiraled onto the Floggers six (9). A tone started to beep in Nara's helmet and a green triangle and circle appeared on Nara's HUD. They revolved around one of four green squares marked, 'MiG-23ML'. As they got closer to one of the squares the tone got faster. They centered, turned red, and the tone became solid.

"2-4, fox two," said Nara as pushed the red button on his stick. An AIM-9 Sidewinder was dropped from its hardpoint, after a short delay ignited, and roared at the Flogger. The Flogger rolled off towards one side to avoid the missile, but it was in such a fast dive and under so many negative G-forces that it could barely even roll. With a second clench of his stomach, Nara realized that pilot probably couldn't eject in such an intense dive.

Indeed, Nara never saw the pilot eject as the Sidewinder smashed into the Flogger's tail and exploded. Odd shattered flaming remained of the aircraft continued to hurtle towards the ground in the wake of the explosion.

"2-4, splash one."

A second missile from 1st Lt. Miyazawa blew off the left wing on the trailing Flogger it cartwheel in midair. The other two hit full afterburners and bugged out of the fight.

"2-3, splash one. Looks like the others are retreating."

"Hai… looks like we have this airspace secure," said Nara as he quickly scanned the sky. 'No one on my six… no one above or below… looks like picture's clear.'

Miyazawa and Nara gently turned and rejoined their squadron. As they flew over the mountains that covered much of the Korean landscape, Nara spotted a large metropolis. Taegu (or Daegu), as he was told was the 4th largest city in the Republic of (South) Korea after Seoul, Pusan, and Incheon; Seoul being the largest and Incheon being third largest. Taegu appeared to be nestled between the mountains on the southern part of the Kyongsang Province. The mountains provided a lot of protection for supply yards, tank depots, and motor pools, but the Japanese were unleashing their new Mitsubishi B-3 Kaze Fortress (10), a bomber that was clearly influenced by the American B-52, but the B-3 was smaller and didn't have the same massive payload. Somehow, Nara didn't think a few flimsy sandbag bunkers and underground tunnels that were only a couple feet under would protect them from hundreds of tons of high explosives.

"This is White Fox leader, all White Fox callsigns break off with your respective flights and begin air supremacy operations. White Fox leader out."

They soared high above the earth since they were only armed with air to air missiles and had no bombs or rockets.

"This is Zephyrus leader, all Zephyrus callsigns open bomb bay doors…. are the doors open?"

"Hai, sir. They're open."

"Ii desu (good). Stand by… okay were approaching the target area, bombardier take over and guide us in."

"Hai… adjust course by 12 degrees south… make sure ya'll adjust for any cross breezes… slow down were going too fast… okay that's good… wait for it… okay in 5,4,3,2,1, were over the green light! Green light!"

A stream of Mk. 84 2,000lb HE bombs rained down from the bombers as they made their way over the target zones.

"Bombs away. Will let the American U2s confirm the targets status. All Zephyrus callsigns, RTB," ordered Zephyrus leader as he turned his plane around for home.

"This is AWACS Watchtower, White Fox and Scythe Squadrons, the bombers are heading back. RTB (return to base)."

"Hai, White Fox Squadron is heading home," said Major Tsumoto. "Squadron, spread out with your flights and head home."

Nara steered his F-15J east towards Japan and Takasu AFB. They flew for an uneventful half hour. When they were starting to near the Sea of Japan when…

"Fuck, I've got a large group on my radar coming from the north," complained White Fox 3-2.

"AWACS, bogey dope," requested Major Tsumoto.

"Stand by… we're tracking at least five squadrons."

"Five?!"

"There appear to be 60 or 70 planes. Four of the squadrons appear to be moving in four groups of three… by their thermal signatures I'd say they're Shenyang F-6 Farmers (11). Fifth group are J-11s and a little separated from the PKAF planes."

"PLAF?"

"So it seems. All units are clear to engage at will. If you don't have the fuel to engage than bug out and let our incoming squadrons to engage."

"This is Scythe Squadron leader, we're engaging. White Fox, are you joining?"

"Hai, tally oh on those bandits," said Major Tsumoto.

Nara took a deep breath and pulled into a hard turn north to face the on coming bandits. He armed the AIM-120 Phoenixes which had a much longer range and higher accuracy than the AIM-9 Sidewinder. Green squares appeared on Nara's HUD marked 'F-6A'. Four of the Farmers were marked red on Nara's HUD by his targeting system.

"White Fox 2-4, radar lock," said Nara.

"All White Fox callsigns, weapons free," said Major Tsumoto.

"White Fox 2-4, fox three," said Nara as he fired off all his Phoenixes. "……. splash four."

Nara rolled to avoid a volley of 30mm auto-cannon fire from a group of Farmers as they came in on Nara's 2 O'clock. He followed 1st Lt. Miyazawa into another flight of Farmers as they all circled, rolled, dived, and looped in 8 to 9 G supersonic dance or waltz of intense air combat.

Nara pulled his pull into a high yo-yo, an aerial maneuver in which a pilot would roll upwards and level off to cut down on a plane's speed and then arc downwards at the enemy plane; it also would a line him for a missile shot. He was closing too fast for a missile strike. He fired a burst of 20mm fire and shot out the engines on a PLAF J-11. Warning appeared on his HUD and he pulled into an upward helix as a Farmer tried to shoot him down.

The Farmers and J-11s started to break off and retreat. Nara broke off too and started to head home.

Suddenly Nara's HUD flashed red. He'd had hardly any warning and he began to turn when…

**Bang!**

The whole plane shuttered and rattled. Nara had been hit by a J-11 that he didn't see as it fired a last shot before withdrawing. Part of the consol he exploded and sent metal and plastic shards into Nara's side and thigh.

"This is 2-4, I'm hit… and I'm bleeding."

"Don't bail over communist territory if you can help it," said Captain Oneishi warningly. "You don't want to be captured."

"I think I can make it… shit… aw, fuck it hurts."

Nara looked at the lights flashing on his consol which were warning him his plane was damaged… not that he didn't already know that. His plane's stick was vibrating a little which told him his steering was damaged a little by the missile hit; in the worse case scenario he was leaking hydraulic fluid.

He was now over the Sea of Japan. He checked his gauges; he was losing fuel faster than it should be which meant a fuel line was leaking. His vision was also starting to blur which meant he was losing too much blood. He was never going to make it Japan at this rate.

He scanned to water for NATO ships that could rescue him if he bailed.

He saw a fleet of ships with some planes flying around them. The sight of planes escorting a fleet made Nara think they must have a carrier. To Nara's disappointment, he saw the HMS Invincible which was light aircraft carrier (12) and didn't have a large enough flight deck for an Eagle to land on. It was be already near enough suicidal to land on the super aircraft carriers that the US Navy used.

He was getting steadily lower and was able to better distinguish the ships. Then he saw it, what appeared to be a US Navy Nimitz Class carrier.

"That should be big enough… can't be picky now," said Nara to himself. He was slowing down as much as possible; land base planes didn't the hooks that would catch the tow cables which brought navy aircraft to a stop on the deck. A skilled pilot in a good plane that could fly at very slow speeds could land on the deck. Nara was a good pilot and in a good plane, but he was bleeding out and the plane was now tailing smoke, leaking fuel and hydraulics, and losing part of one of the tail fins which reduced his changes to near certain death.

He saw people on the deck scrambling to get bombs and fuel tanks off the deck. He thought he saw fire equipment being moved into position in preparation for a crash. Someone was yelling what Nara guessed were instructions in some language he didn't understand or even recognize. Rational thought was leaving Nara as he was approaching the point of passing out, but he did note that the planes on the deck weren't any models the US Navy used.

"Akira…." Nara groaned, not really sure what he was saying and losing sense of where he was, "….. I love you."

The Eagle shook and shuttered and Nara instinctively pulled on the break lever. He shut down the turbines. He slumped down in his seat let his head roll to his right. He began aware that the sun light was being blocked. Someone was leaning over the canopy and prying it open.

A man whose face and uniform was obscured by the glare of the sun seemed to be looking at him. He turned and yelled behind him, "Er bin verletzt! Ich brauche einen arzt!"

Nara was now being pulled out of his plane and placed on a stretcher.

"Akira…" Nara moaned. He passed out as he was being carried away and his plane hosed down by fire crews.

* * *

Well, this is my single longest chapters to date, but I think this was a decent one. I hope ya'll enjoy this one. Sorry about the clip hanger, but I've got to keep ya'll reading my story somehow. Stay tuned for next to find out what happened in to Nara, Mai's 11th Birthday, the rate of the USSR, and who is pregnant… okay no one is going to be pregnant, but other things will happen. Hope you aren't gonna' desert me now. Please review.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. The Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center is the primary and only known nuclear facility in the People's Democratic Republic of Korea. It's near the North Pyongan Province, roughly 103km north of Pyongyang, the North Korean capitol. This is where North Korea started their nuclear weapons program and where they may have constructed them. The United States of America, Russian Federation, Japan, Republic of Korea, and the People's Republic of China have been trying to get The People's Democratic Republic of Korea to shut down Yongbyon since they detonated a weapon in 2006. In 2007 they claimed they would shut down the reactor. It is been claimed to the reactor is off line by the North Koreans and no evidence suggests other wise. Even if they did have the facility on line, they wouldn't have the missiles to deliver it for until something like 2017 (assuming they didn't stop working on it after all this time).

2. Judy Garland was an extremely famous singer and actress in the 1930s. Her most famous role was as Dorothy in the American classic The Wizard of Oz and her most famous song was 'Somewhere over the Rainbow' also featured in The Wizard of Oz.

3. From watching other animes or researching Japan, some of you might know that Japanese students have two major events: the sports fest and culture fest. The sports fest is where all the classes in a school compete with the other classes in their respective years in various competitions like tug of war and the relay race. The culture fest is where each class and school club turn their carnival into what would be the American equivalent of a school carnival. Common themes are doing cafés, haunted houses, or doing a play. Any anime or manga that is about students will probably have one or both fests. The manga/anime School Rumble does have both a sports fest and culture fest.

4. Japan has never been actually invaded by a foreign nation in their history. Foreigners have put troops in Japan like the Spanish missionaries or the US occupation force, but no one has landed troops to seize Japan through armed force in a true invasion.

5. The Japanese do not where street shoes inside homes or certain public buildings like schools. Why? I'm not really sure myself, but it's a tradition deep rooted in Japanese society and culture. It may be because they don't want to track the dirt and grim inside their homes.

6. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries bought licensing from McDonnell-Douglas to build the F-15C, however in the Japanese Air Self-Defense Forces it's called the F-15J.

7. Mach (pronounced 'mack') is the unit of measurement for the speed of sound. Mach 1 is the speed of sound which is roughly 1225 km/h (kilometers per hour), 761 mph (miles per hour), or 661kt (knots). Air speed is usually measured in knots, but mach is also frequently used.

8. In a head on pass a missile doesn't have time to arm and detonate, but that is made mostly irrelevant by that fact that it normal has enough force to rip right through a plane. There are documented cases in the Israeli Air Self-Defense Forces during the Yom Kipper War fired missiles in a head on pass with Egyptian planes; they didn't detonate, but the shear force on impact destroyed the Egyptian MiGs.

9. Six (pending on how it's used in a sentence) can just a shorten term for six O'clock and is basically air force slang for the rear of someone or something.

10. The Mitsubishi Heavy Industry B-3 Kaze Fortress is not a real aircraft.

11. The J-6 (export models known as the F-6) is made by the Chinese company Shenyang Aircraft Corporation. It is a Chinese copy of the Soviet MiG-19 Farmer.

12. There are different types of aircraft carriers. The smallest type is the helicopter carrier (designation: CVH) which would almost no flight deck. They're only meant for helicopters, like the SH-60 Sea Hawk, or Vertical/Short Take Off and Landing (VSTOL) like AV-8 Harrier. An example of a CVH would be the Soviet Kiev Class and technically the US Wasp Class (officially an amphibious assault ship). The light aircraft carrier does have a flight deck for fixed wing planes, but they aren't large enough or equipped to launch fully armed aircraft like the British Invincible Class or Russian/Soviet Admiral Kuznetsov Class; neither of these carriers can launch fully loaded or fueled planes since they both lack catapults. The super aircraft carrier are the largest carriers which can large numbers of planes and can large fully loaded planes too; carriers in this class include the Nimitz Class, Gerald Ford Class, Queen Elizabeth Class, and Charles de Gaulle Class.


	37. Chapter 37: Respite

Another day, another chapter. I'm a little worried that this chapter is going to be a bit of a mess as I try to push my story on towards the invasion of Korea and the end. It's not that I want to end this story, but that I want to get started on the sequel. But I can't do that until I finish this story or I'll get too sidetracked and so on. This is the problem with having ADHD, easily distracted and short attention span (and that's just scratching the surface). 

To Ominae: I know there are some missing namings in my story, but I think I should get the story finished before I go back and edited it again. Thanks for the review though, I always love to hear from ya'll.

I don't own any trademarked or copy-write product. For all I know I may not even own the rights to this story.

Please review and/or tell a friend.

* * *

**Chapter 37: Respite**

"Never run when you can walk

Never stand when you can lie down

Never stay awake when you can sleep"

Murphy's Laws of Combat

**???? Hours; August ?, 2010; Sea of Japan?**

'I'm warm,' was the first thought that came to Nara mind as he awoke. He kept his eyes closed and let his other senses grasp his surroundings. His mind wasn't fully awake so his thinking was slow and he wasn't receiving information from all his senses yet.

'I'm in a bed,' thought Nara. The sheets over him were thin, but warm. The mattress was light, but comfortable. He tried to move, but the sheets were tightly tucked in which made moving difficult.

'I must be in a hospital,' thought Nara. It made sense considering the information he was receiving without opening his eyes. He could small industrial grade bleach and heavy duty cleaning products which, along with the feel of the bed and sheets, gave the place an almost unnaturally clean feel. He also heard the beeping of what sounded like a heart monitor. He also realized that the room felt like it was on a moving surface. Like a ship on water.

'I made it,' he thought happily. He'd landed on the carrier… the question was whose carrier was it. It looked like an American Nimitz Class, but he remembered the planes on the deck he saw before landing weren't American.

'They must be friendly, or they wouldn't have treated my wounds.'

He finally opened his eyes. He was in a room with four hospital beds. His alone was occupied. There was an IV line in his arm and another line from a blood bag into the same arm. One of his fingers had a device clamped to it which appeared to be monitoring his heart beat.

The room was metal with rivets and bolts showing and a bulkhead at one end; the typical look of the interior of a ship.

The door opened and a Middle Eastern looking man entered. He was dressed in dark navy blue trousers, a grey turned-down collared button shirt, and a white lab coat over the tunic. Nara didn't recognize the uniform or the rank insignias on his collar.

Peeled back the bed sheet and lifted the hospital gown Nara had on. Nara was relieved to see he was wearing boxers underneath. The doctor inspected the stitches they seem to have been put on while he was unconscious. He seemed to be satisfied that the stitches were secure and Nara's wounds weren't infected.

"Symptom ist gut," said the man in a foreign language marking notes on a chart that was in a slot at the end of Nara's bed. He then checked the IV and blood bag before leaving.

A woman dress in an ankle length dark navy blue skirt, grey button shirt with a sailor flap collar that hung down to the small of her back, and dark navy blue tunic entered the room. She removed a white cap that had a black band that had the letters 'DM CVN-01 Prussian' etched in gold and she placed it on the table next to Nara.

It was at this moment Nara saw that some of his personal items were on the table which included a photo of the Tea Club and Harima who spent most of his time their writing manga. That had surprised Nara that Harima was a manga artist, but he kept silent because Takano made it a rule to not talk about unless Harima said it was alright. His other personal effects included a wristwatch and a photo of Hiroaki, Nara's first wing leader, and Nara himself standing in front of their planes. Nara did not own or process a handgun, something that bothered him a little.

"Ohaiyo," said the woman in Japanese. She had a strong foreign accent.

"Ohaiyo," said Nara.

"You in much pain?" asked the woman with pauses in between words to further the appearance that Japanese was not her first language… not that her European appearance didn't tip Nara off.

"Some, but I think I'm fine."

"Good."

"Nan-ji (what time is it)?" asked Nara.

"1141 Hours," answered the woman checking her watch. "And it's Sunday, August 22nd."

"Where am I?"

"You are in one of the hospital bays on the German aircraft carrier Prussian."

"This isn't an American carrier (1)?" asked a confused Nara.

"It was, but Deutschland (Germany) bought it from the Americans two years ago. Now it is a Deutsche Marine (DM: Germany Navy) ship," said explained the woman.

"And my plane?"

"I'm sorry, but we pushed it over board. It wasn't safe to keep it on deck. It was leaking fuel and still had live munitions on it."

Nara was quiet for a little, but nodded and said, "I understand… who are you?"

"I'm Stabsbootsmann (2) Mieke Wagner. I am one of only 12 people on this ship that speak Japanese and I am responsible for you until we dock in Shinomoseki. Which should be Tuesday."

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**1200 Hours; August 21****st****, 2010; deck of JFS Shirane (DDH-143), 100km outside of Royal Canadian Navy waters**

Yūki and Natsuyami were leaning against the guard rail of the Shirane. Yūki was feeling rather excited because they were going to enter the United States. Yūki had never been to a foreign nation before and she wondered what America was like.

"Fighters," said Natsuyami looking off towards the northeast, "probably a patrol."

A flight of Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) F-18A Hornets were approaching the Japanese 2nd Escort Fleet.

"Attention Japanese Navel ships, this is Lima 3-1. Lower your speed to 12 knots and submit ship ID codes," ordered the Canadian planes as they soared around the Japanese.

"This is JFS Shimokita, NATO recognition ID code JFN-LST-4002 (3), we're acting flagship for the 2nd Escort Fleet. Stand while we transmit ship IDs."

"Sounds like we can't just enter," said Natsuyami. They had a radio and were listening to the military transmissions.

Yūki pulled out a pair of binoculars, pushed her glasses to her forehead, and gazed out at the horizon.

"See any thing?" asked Natsuyami.

"Hai, three surface ships… frigates I think," said Yūki. Three Halifax Class frigates were moving towards the Japanese. Their pace was slow and steady as to not alarm the Japanese into an armed response. The frigates spread out in an escort position.

"Shimokita, this is Royal Canadian Navy frigate FFG-334 HMCS Regina. Your ships IDs check out, have your submarines surface, shut down your long range radar (4) and sonar, and have your weapons crews stand down, will provide escort until we reach US waters where will pass you on to the US Navy."

"Rodger that Regina, please send us course waypoints."

"Rodger, sending data now, HMCS Regina out."

They travel for about an hour when the Canadians began to break off as they approached the US maritime zones.

"This is HMCS Regina, this is as far as we go. Stay on course to waypoint Foxtrot and you'll be in the United States. American ships are waiting at the boarder to take you to your destination."

"Thank you for the escort Regina, we're setting course for waypoint Foxtrot."

"Where are we?" asked Yūki.

"Well… we headed up to Hokkaido, crossed the North Pacific until we entered Canadian waters off Vancouver Islands… so we're about to enter the American half of the Strait of Juan de Fuca," said Natsuyami as he consulted a map. "We'll be in the US in about 15 minutes."

"It's very nice weather, very mild, and look at all the trees," said Yūki pointing to Vancouver Island that was visible as a green mass. "I read that this area of North America is covered in pine and evergreen trees."

A Squadron of USAF F-15C Eagles and two flights of USN F-14D Super Tomcats roared over head. They were in America. Four USN Oliver Hazard Perry Class frigates were waiting at the US boarder.

"Japanese Federal Navy 2nd Escort Fleet, this is FFG-57 USS Reuben James of the United States Navy. HMCS Regina sent us your fleet IDs, we're gonna' have those fighters make a few passes over your ships to verify the IDs, please reduce your speed to 7kt."

"Understood Reuben James, we're cutting speed to 7 knots."

After about 10 ten minutes the USS Reuben James contacted the JFS Shimokita, "JFS Shimokita, your IDs are verified. Just a few things, the Strait of Juan de Fuca is divided in half between Canada and the United States, both sides are very crowed with ship traffic so we're gonna' need you all to keep a narrow formation and stay out of the cargo/passenger shipping lanes. We're sending you waypoints now."

Yūki and Natsuyami stared off towards the mountains that made up the northwestern parts of Washington State. Americans on board cargo ships, barges, fishing boats, yachts, and other civilian boats stared curiously at the large numbers of foreign warships flying a white flag with a red circle in the center and red streaks coming out of the circle (5).

They traveled for hours passing through a network of small and large islands that littered Puget Sound. Small gunboats with the painted white, orange, and blue and the words United States Coastguard were joining their larger Navy counter-parts in escort duty on the final stretch.

"So this is Puget Sound Naval Shipyard," said Yūki as they entered a large shipyard. Puget Sound Naval Shipyard was mostly a fleet support base that could repair any and all ship types in the US Navy from small Cyclone Class PT boats and Los Angeles Class attack submarines to the massive Nimitz Class super aircraft carriers and Iowa Class battleships.

They could see an Iowa Class and a Nimitz Class and two Ohio Class ballistic missile submarines in dry dock. A Spruance Class destroyer was in a light repair dock. An old Los Angeles Class that was decommissioned was being scrapped for parts. Other ships were being restocked on fuel, munitions, and food. Clearly this was a busy shipyard.

Many of the Japanese were being anchored in the harbor and not at docks because there weren't enough available docks for them all. The Shirane was being guided in by a tugboat into a dock behind the destroyer JFS Amagiri.

"Attention all personal who are being resigned to CVN-01 JFS Sutsuru, CG-01 JFS Mogami, CG-02 JFS Nagara, and CG-03 JFS Furutaka, you are to disembark and await transport on the dock," announced someone over the ships' intercoms.

"That's us Keisuke," said Yūki grabbing her Navy issued rucksack and heading for the gangplank. The couple of US M939 duce-and-a-half troop trucks with HMMWV on escort duty. US Marines were directing the Japanese sailors to get in the trucks.

"Welcome to the US," said an US Navy Rear Admiral JG to a group of Japanese navy offices as they joined him in a M939. "I'm Rear Admiral JG Mark Watts, second in command here at Puget Sound."

"I'm Vice Admiral Masato Takeisawa commander of the 2nd Escort Fleet, this is Captain Tenchi Hokai who will be taking command of the Sutsuru, Captain Midori Uesugi who will command the Mogami, Captain Seiji Hazekawa who will command the Nagara, and Captain Mitsuhiro Nanri who will command the Furutaka," said Vice Admiral Takeisawa making introductions to the officers taking seats on the benches of the M939.

"Well, your ships are completed. Thank god you sent your own workers or your ships wouldn't have been finished," said Watts.

"How so?"

"See that ship? That's the Iowa Class Battleship USS Nevada (6), it's been in storage for years and now the Navy wants it up and running along with the USS Illinois and Kentucky which were never completed, plus we've got four Virginia Class attack submarines, the new Gerald L. Ford Class carriers CVN-81, and CVN-82 being built here because some pencil pushing jackass in Washington decided that instead of building 3 Ford Class carriers over the course of 15 years, we're to build 9 carriers in that time. Newport News Shipyard usually builds the larger warships, but they don't have enough dry docks or staff to get the job done on their own so now we have build four subs and two carriers," said Watts sounding exhausted and overwhelmed by the shear number of orders they had to complete on such a tight schedule in addition to their usually duties of ship repair. "If you guys want to leave some of your workers here I can make it worth their time."

They approached a group of huge hanger like buildings that seemed to conceal huge dry docks. Security around these buildings was tight with Marines and Navy MPs standing at the perimeter and patrolling the facilities. Around four of these hangers, all the guards were Asians which, considering how extremely diverse the US Military was, seemed odd. Also the tanks, vehicles, and IFVs although seemed like American units, but didn't quite match.

"Has anyone noticed that these aren't American soldiers?" asked Captain Uesugi indicating the guards.

"Someone working for the Chinese did notice they were Japanese soldiers and investigated, but someone in CIFA (Counter-Intelligence Field Activity) alerted the Coastguard before they reported too much information to those commie bastards," said Watts.

"How much of a leak?"

"They reported that the Sutsuru was near completion, but we took care of that before any critical data was leaked."

"Well that's good."

They entered the first hanger and dismounted inside. A super aircraft, that was external was almost completely identical to the American Gerald L. Ford Class carrier, was shining brand new in its dock. The only noticeable difference was that Sutsusu Class was larger than the Ford Class and had a few different weapons and sensory equipment.

On and below deck were F-14DJ Super Tomcats, F-18EJ Super Hornets, S-3B Viking anti-submarine warfare (ASW) bomber, E-2C Hawkeye AWACSs, SH-60J Sea Hawks, SH-53EJ Super Stallions, and AH-1ZJ Super Cobras. Most of the helicopters were be put on the Shimokita which would support the Sutsuru with choppers armed for ASW sorties or Marines for any jobs that required infantry. All the aircraft were painted white on the top half and grey on the bottom in the Japanese Federal Navy's colors with the red circle insignia on the wings and waist of the planes and choppers. Planes on deck had tarps wrapped around the bodies of the planes. The tarps were painted US Naval Air Force colors. The carrier was also flying an American flag.

"So what did your government use as an excuse for you guys to come here?" asked Rear Admiral JG Watts.

"The Ministry of Defense said it was a drill to show Japan could use her warships in the open ocean. We also announced we would be escorting an American group back to Japan to further prove our ability at sea," said Vice Admiral Takeisawa.

"It's also not a total lie. We're using this as a test to see if our sailors could handle a long range operation, but our primary goal is the sneak the Sutsuru into the homeland without communist detection," added Captain Uesugi.

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**1000 Hours; August 22****nd****, 2010; Yagami, Kanagawa Prefecture; Federation of Japan**

Harima was working on his manga in his room at the Tsukamoto's home. Due to his abysmal memory, he currently had forgotten that Mai's birthday was in three days. He was touching up on the final sketches for the last few pages he needed to mail tomorrow to the chief editor.

**Knock, knock.**

"Come in," called Harima without looking up from his labors.

"Ohaiyo Kenji," said Hanai was he entered the room followed by Kitsumori. "We were wondering what you think we should get Mai-chan for her birthday?"

"Birthday?" asked Harima looking up at Hanai with a blank look that was obvious even with his sunglasses on.

"You didn't forget, did you?" asked Hanai.

They stared at each other for almost 2 minutes.

"Did you?" propped Kitsumori.

More silence.

"Oh shit," they said in unison.

The next thing either one of them knew, Harima was gunning the engine of his motorcycle while Hanai dived into the sidecar and Kitsumori behind Harima on the seat. They roared off for the shopping district of Yagami and immediately parked the bike in an alley and began to walk down the street. The three of them would have appeared calm if it weren't for the cold nerves sweat poring down their faces.

"Do you have any idea what to buy an 11 year old girl?" asked Harima.

"Only Mikoto-san, but with her love for martial arts she wasn't exactly a normal girl to buy for," said Hanai unhelpfully.

"Mmmm… Mai-chan isn't a normal girl… she'd like military things," speculated Kitsumori.

"You have a point… but what?"

"….."

"So we're still at square one," groaned Harima.

"Hey, guys! What about that?" asked Hanai pointing at one store.

"What about it?"

Hanai whispered into Harima and Kitsumori's ears. As he continued to speak Harima and Kitsumori began to nod in agreement in unison.

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**1130 Hours; August 25****th****, 2010; The Tsukamoto's Residents, Yagami; Kanagawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

Yakumo was busy putting finishing touches to Mai birthday cake. Mai was currently playing with her friend Sachi and Tenma in the backyard. Over in the living room Harima's army buddies that found Mai in Korea were helping set up party decorations. She could hear them setting up.

"Yamako, hold the ladder," called out one of the men from the living room.

"Sure I got it Shimazu," answered another man also in the living room.

"Did you hear something crack?"

"Iē."

**Crash!**

"Ow!"

"Shit. You okay?"

"The ladder just broke, what do you think?!"

"Why don't we just check the lights?" suggested a third man.

"Fine, you plug it in and Kaoji, you make sure they're all working."

"Okay, I'm plugging them in," said the man named Yamako.

"AAAAGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!" **CRASH!**

"Hi Yakumo," said Tenma as she walked in with Mai and Sachi.

"Nee-san, did you give Kenji-kun's friends the lights I left aside for the party or the defective ones I told you to throw out with that old broken ladder?"

Tenma shut her eyes, wrapped one arm around her chest, rested the other on the first arm, and rubbed her chin in deep concentration. She made loud melodramatic sounds of deep thought. Sachi and Mai thought they could smell smoke.

After about 5 straight minutes of thinking, Tenma said airily, "I don't know."

"I think I do," said Yakumo as she fished out the first aid kit she kept handy for when Tenma felt like cooking. "You did remember to get rid of those defective trick candles, right?"

Tenma went into deep thought mode again. Yakumo's eyes widened in fear and she ran towards the door to the living room.

**Boom!**

"Too late," she sighed.

Three men with burned faces and singed hair entered the room. Yakumo handed them the first aid kit which they accepted quietly and gratefully before limping to the bathroom to clean up.

That evening, Asou, Harima, Kitsumori, Hanai, Shimazu, Yamako, and Kaoji were dressed in their formal dress uniforms. They knelt on cushions around a low table common among Japanese homes. Yakumo, Tenma, Sachi, Mai, and Sarah were also dressed for the occasion. They were singing a Japanese variation of 'happy birthday'. Yakumo brought in the cake with normal candles that wouldn't explode… but Kaoji, Yamako, and Shimazu eyed them warily nonetheless and leaned back in fear.

Once the candles were out they started to had out presents.

Sachi handed Mai a stack of 3-ring binders full of pages. "My cousin in the US Special Forces wrote up his own personally recognition guides and let me make copies of them for you."

The binders were filled with hand written notes on guns, planes, ships, artillery, and tanks complete with dimensions, specifications, variations, users, detailed drawings, comparisons to other vehicles or guns, and any notable events they may have been in. Mai flipped through them and drank in the information. What she practically noticed was that a numbers of the things listed weren't even in military service yet or weren't things that were normally known by the public.

"Arigato Sachi-chan, this is fascinating," Mai said with glee.

"This is from Sarah and me," said Asou passing a lumping 'squarish' package that suggested it was clothes. "Most girls your age own a formal Japanese kimono for festivals and holidays and we didn't think you have one. So, happy birthday."

Mai ran her hand along the soft silk fabric. It was emerald green with the images of small birds sitting on saruka (cherry blossom) tree branches embroiled in chalk white silk thread. "Arigato, it's beautiful."

"Mai, this is from us," said Yamako as Kaoji passed the gift he, Yamako, and Shimazu gotten her.

"A gun?" asked Mai as she unwrapped a Chinese QSZ-92 handgun in a handsome leather holster. Mai squinted at the Chinese characters imprinted on the holster. "My Mandarin (8) isn't that good, but I think it's a rank and name."

"It says 'Brigadier General Ming Wei'. He was in charge of the PLA in Shinomoseki," said Yamako proudly which caused Mai's eyes to widen in surprise.

"I don't remember you guys haven't permission to take that," said Asou with narrowed eyes. Yamako, Kaoji, and Shimazu made extremely poor attempts to look innocent. "I'll just pretend I didn't see this."

"This is from us," said Tenma merrily she handed the gift from her and Yakumo. The package was wrapped so beautifully that it was obvious that Yakumo had wrapped, but no one had the heart to say it out loud. Tenma smiled proudly at the gift she'd picked out and Yakumo had to pay for, "It's for when you're older. It's a love manual I used in high school."

"Arigato," said Mai sweat-dropping. 'Sun Tzu (9)? ………….. you are sure an interesting person Tenma-sempai.'

Finally, Kitsumori, Hanai, and Harima passed over their gift.

"We're passing a photo shop downtown," said Kitsumori.

"Haruki saw an ad that offered to take drawing or sketches, scan them, blow them up, and frame them in a nice glossy image," said Harima.

"And so, happy birthday," said Hanai.

The group drawing was of Asou, Kitsumori, Hanai, Harima, Yamako, Shimazu, Kaoji, Rumune, and Mai sitting in front of a Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force's HMMWV in front of a restaurant they had slept in before they blew up the Nakdong Bridge. They were all dirty. They all had wary and tired, but proud expressions on their faces. The drawing was so detailed that it looked like a photograph.

Tears rolled down Mai's face as she pressed a hand to each face. She'd never forgotten those days when she'd lost her biological family to the war… and bizarrely enough the war given her a new and weird, but loveable family. If it weren't for the fact that the picture was larger than her arms could reach, she would have hugged it with all her might.

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**2230 Hours; August 25****th****, 2010; Harima's Room, Tsukamoto Residence; Yagami, Federation of Japan**

It an envelope. It was just sitting in the middle of the heated table in Harima's room. It was addressed to:

Pvt. Harima Kenji

It had his serial number on it and was forwarded to the Tsukamoto's. It's return address:

6th Division

Northeast HQ

Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture

Federation of Japan

Why did such a small simple looking object seem so frightening to him? Maybe because he knew what it would say. He pulled out a pen knife and sliced the envelop open. He pulled out the nearly typed letter on official Japanese Federal Army stationary with Federal Army insignia on top.

"Kenji-kun?"

Harima nearly jumped through the ceiling. "Yakumo-san… uh I didn't hear you knock."

"What are you reading?" she asked innocently.

"Nothing."

"… are they your orders?" she asked her heart dropping.

"Probably, but I haven't read it yet," said Harima slowly.

"Don't let me hold you up," she said sadly.

Harima pulled out the letter and read, "Dear Private Harima;

We wish to inform you and your company are being recommended for the Imperial Unit Citation Award (10) for showing courage in the face of the enemy and helping lead our forces to victory. You personally have been approved to be awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure 4th Class (11). You will be given the award officially on September 1st, 2010.

You are to report to company CO, Captain Hitsugaya Tōshirō, at Northeastern HQ in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture on August 30th, 2010. Any later date will be considered absent without leave and you will be subjected to court-martial.

Sincerely,

Sgt. Kagato

Administrative Office

Northeastern HQ"

"You're leaving soon then," said Yakumo.

"This will probably be the invasion of Korea," said Harima as he reread the letter.

"Please come back."

"Of course, but why do you always ask me to?" asked Harima curiously.

'This is it, you can do it,' said a voice in Yakumo's head that sounded a lot like Tenma. "Uh… I…. I'll tell you when you get back."

"Sure thing," said Harima simply. He head no idea what she felt, but that was part of his appeal to her. He didn't look at her like she was piece of meat, but as a person.

'Coward,' she called herself as she left the room.

* * *

Well this chapter had a little bit of everything. Hope ya'll enjoyed. I'm sure you can guess what's coming up in the next few chapters. If you can't guess, the next chapter or two chapters will be about training and preparations for the invasion. I promise the invasion of Korea will be soon.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. Since the construction of CVN-65 USS Enterprise, pretty much all US aircraft carriers look similar in design and appearance. The John F. Kennedy Class, Kitty Hawk Class, and Nimitz Class are very similar in appearance and difficult to distinguish between the three. What are the differences you may ask? Don't ask, because I can't tell the difference. The CV-67 USS John F. Kennedy was decommissioned on March 23, 2007. The Kitty Hawk Class, which the John F. Kennedy was copied from, is mostly removed from service as well. No United States Navy aircraft carrier has ever been sold to a foreign nation (we have sold destroyers and frigates to Germany, Greece, Mexico, Turkey, South Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, and others).

2. Stabsbootsmann, which is pronounced stabs-boots-man, (NATO rank code OR-8) is roughly the equivalent of a Senior Chief Petty Officer in the US Navy, which in the US Army and USMC is Master Sergeant.

3. This is really an idea of my imagination, but I'm sure NATO has something like this NATO ID system I invented because ships could have the same pen numbers. JFN stands for Japanese Federal Navy (which isn't a real designation) and the second part LST-4002 is the real ID number for the Shimokita. If you don't get let me know and I'll try and explain it better.

4. When a warship isn't on duty or enters other countries waters, they usually shut off their long radar systems. By international laws, having long range radar and sonar active in another nation's maritime zones is considered spying and a hostile act that could lead to war because it could be used monitor air patrols, surface ship movements, or anti-submarine defenses. Ships are however allowed to keep shorter range radar and sonar for self-defense purposes or for navigation purposes.

5. The white flag with a red circle and red streaks coming from the circle was in the past the flag of the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy. Today it is the flag of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and is still flown from Japanese Maritime Self-Defense ships.

6. The real USS Nevada was decommissioned and scrapped years ago. No battleship has been in service since the end of the 1990 Gulf War.

7. Lieutenant Junior Grade (Lt. JG) is the navy equivalent of an army and air force 1st Lieutenant. In most countries the army and air force have the same officer ranks and the navy has their own set of officer ranks. The US Navy officer ranks with their comparable US Army/Air Force ranks are as follows lowest to highest: Ensign (2nd Lieutenant), Lieutenant Junior Grade (1st Lieutenant), Lieutenant (Captain), Lieutenant Commander (Major), Commander (Lieutenant Colonel), Captain (Colonel), Rear Admiral Junior Grade (Brigadier General), Rear Admiral (Major General), Vice Admiral (Lieutenant General), Admiral (General), and in wartime only Fleet Admiral (General of the Army, General of the Air Force). The OF-10 ranks, Fleet Admiral, General of the Air Force, and General of Army, have not been used for over 50 years. Omar Bradley on September 20, 1950 was the last General of the Army, William Halsey on December 11, 1944 was the last Fleet Admiral, and Henry H. Arnold (briefly a General of the Army) on May 7, 1949 was the only General of the Air Force in US History.

8. Mandarin Chinese is the official language of the People's Republic of China however it is mostly spoken in northeastern China around the capital. China has several different languages that are spoken in current parts of the country. I think the People's Liberation Army officially uses Mandarin the PLA can communicate with one language for convinces sake.

9. For those of you who read the first volume of the School Rumble manga or watched the first episode of the anime, you may remember that Tenma mistaken the Sun Tzu by Art of War for a book on the art of love. Why you may ask? It's Tenma we're talking about, need I say more?

10. I haven't found a complete list of modern Japanese medals. For this reason some of Japanese awards mentioned in my story will be fictional. The fictional Imperial Unit Citation Award is supposed to be an equivalent of the US Military's Presidential Unit Citation Award.

11. The Order of the Sacred Treasure is a real medal for both civilians and soldiers. Originally when Emperor Meiji created the medal there are 8 classes, but as of 2003 there are only class 1-6. It is considered to be one of the lower of the Japanese medals.


	38. Chapter 38: Eve of the Typhoon

Looks like my story will be going into the 40s. Might even reach 50. It's coming to a foreseeable end though. As usual I'd like to thank ya'll for reading my story this long. I was impressed how many hits chapter 36 got in only a few days, but a little disappointed that only at only getting one review.

This chapter is just a collection of random series of mostly unrelated events leading up to the invasion. Most will fill you into the details of the invasion and help set the stage for the next few chapters and the others will probably just be comic relief… but who doesn't enjoyed a good laugh.

I don't own any trademarked or copywrite item. Please review and/or tell a friend.

* * *

**Chapter 39: Eve of the Typhoon**

"The only possible chance (of stopping the Allies) will be at the beaches"

Field Marshal Erwin Rommel talking about his plan to stop the Allied invasion of Normandy

**0800 Hours; August 30****th****, 2010; Main Terminal, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport; Washington State, United States of America**

(This section is in English unless stated otherwise)

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, or Sea-Tac as it's called for short, was one of the largest airports in the region and with over 30 million passengers a year it was 17th busiest airport in the United States. Unsurprisingly, the airport was packed and busy as ever. People were rushing to catch flights south to California, north to Alaska or Canada, east for the rest of the Continental US, and west to Hawaii, South Pacific Islands, and East Asia.

"You stay safe, okay?" asked a pretty brunette to an Asian male of the same age.

"As safe as the PLA and PKA will allow Emma," said the man with a small smile.

The woman pushed back the man's bangs and kissed him on the forehead.

"See you soon Jack."

"You too," said the man as he wave goodbye to his girlfriend. "I'll call you when we land."

With one last look at each other Emma Heckler walked off towards the Central Link light rail station (1) and Jack Shinhachi went through the automatic doors into the terminal.

Lt. Colonel Shinhachi strode down the central terminal to the metal detectors. Since September 11, 2001, security in airports across the United States drastically increased. Most people would have to arrive hours ahead of their flights just to make it through security on time for their plane's departure. Shinhachi however was part of both the Intelligence Community and the Special Operation Command (SOCOM) which gave him the legal status to transport weapons through airports and use the government/military entrance.

Shinhachi had to stand in line behind federal air marshals, other spec ops soldiers, and men in dark business suits which suggested they were intelligence officers for a government.

Shinhachi stepped up to the counter once it was his turn and showed his Army ID and paperwork to transport weapons out of the US (2). The woman at the counter looked at Shinhachi who was in his B class semi-formal uniform.

"Where are you heading?"

"Japan," said Shinhachi simply.

The woman ran his ID through the system and once she was satisfied he wasn't a terrorist or foreign spy, she let him go on.

Shinhachi closed up the black carrying case he was using to transport the Benelli M3 semi-auto shotgun, Glock handguns, and his brand new H&K G-416. He'd gotten the 20 inch barrel (3) and x4 zoom laser dot scope. He'd also gotten a handle grip, laser pointer, flashlight, silencer, and ACOG scope which could all be attached to his gun, but weren't attached yet. Also, he had an H&K Mk. 23 which he bought to please Emma's father who wasn't too happy that Shinhachi didn't own any H&K guns and used Glock and Colt handguns.

Shinhachi walked down a staircase and avoid the crowed escalator. He arrived in a sort of subway station. Sea-Tac had one main terminal and two satellite terminals which were only accessible via an underground subway in the airport. The main terminal only serviced national flights and to board an international flight one had to go to one of the satellite terminals.

A train rumbles in the station and the doors automatically opened. Shinhachi pushed his way in with crows of people.

"Next stop, North Satellite servicing: Air Canada, Air Canada Jazz, Alaska Airlines, United Airlines, and United Express," announced an automated female voice who repeated the same message in Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, and Japanese.

Shinhachi stepped out of the packed train and walked up a staircase, once again avoiding the crowed escalator.

He stopped at a Dunkin Doughnuts and bought three coffees and a box of glazed doughnut. He walked towards gate N-3 and sat down next to a man with an odd triangle shaped scar.

"Morning you lazy bum," said Shinhachi as he pulled out a copy of the Seattle Times.

"Morning," said Captain Jason Maiwald as he read his own copy of the paper.

"Is that sleeping lump next to you Maya?" asked Shinhachi without looking up from his paper.

"Yup," said Maiwald unconcernedly, also without looking up from his paper.

Major Maya Solomon, commander of the 4th Delta Assault Platoon, was being reassigned with her platoon from Central Asia to East Asia for the invasion of Korea.

"The JFS Sutsuru made it safely into a base in Okinawa with her escorts," said Shinhachi. Maiwald looked at him briefly out of the corner of his eye, but looked back at some depressing article on drunk driving death rates among teenagers… doesn't that make you feel safe on the road?

"Undetected?"

"Yes."

"When's the invasion?" asked a female voice suddenly. Major Solomon groggily sat up and grabbed a doughnut out of the box. Shinhachi passed her one of the coffees which she accepted with a thank you.

Shinhachi wrote something a piece of paper and passed it to her. She glance at the date, showed it to Maiwald, and then tucked it into a shirt pocket making a metal note burn it at the first given chance.

"Anything we should know before hand?" asked Maiwald as he flipped to the sports section.

"We're going to land with the main force and poke holes in the enemy lines for the ground troops," said Shinhachi.

"My platoon will be joining me," said Solomon. "They're going to need a detailed briefing ASAP (as soon as possible)."

"Sure thing," said Shinhachi.

"What else did Washington tell you?" asked Solomon, mostly she meant 'what did the CIFA central headquarters say'.

"Attention all passengers, United Airlines Flight 209 to Narita International Airport is now arriving at Gate N-3," announced a man at the desk by the gate.

"I'll tell you more later," said Shinhachi as he flipped to the crossword puzzle.

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**1000 Hours; September 1****st****, 2010; Northeastern HQ, Sendai; Miyagi Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

(This section is in Japanese unless stated otherwise)

"SSgt. Asou Hiroyoshi, for your services to the Federal Army we award to you the Order of the Sacred Treasure 3rd Class," said Major Daijin hanging a gilt (4) medal around Asou's neck. The Order of the Sacred Treasure 3rd Class had a white ribbon that went around the neck, a gilt red jewel encrusted Maltese cross just like the German's Knight Cross, and the insignia of the Yata Mirror, Yasakani Jewel, and the Emperor's personal sword that make up the Sacred Treasure.

"To Pvt. Ishida Uryū, we award you the Order of the Sacred Treasure 4th Class," said Major Daijin hanging a similar medal around Ishida's neck. The only difference was a mark on the medal that denoted it as a 4th Class medal.

"To PFC (Private 1st Class) Kaoji Taro, we award you the Order of the Sacred Treasure 4th Class. To Pvt. Yamako Ichiro we award you the Order of the Sacred Treasure 4th Class. To Cpl. Hanai Haruki we award you the Order of the Sacred Treasure 3rd Class. To PFC Harima Kenji we award you the Order of the Sacred Treasure 3rd Class. To Pvt. Kitsumori Kazu we award you the Order of the Sacred Treasure 4th Class. To Pvt. Jupei Miho we award you the Order of the Sacred Treasure 4th Class. To Cpl. Ikuro Miyu we award you the Order of the Sacred Treasure 3rd Class. To PFC Kurosaki Ichigo we award you the Order of the Scared Treasure 3rd Class. To Pvt. Abarai Renji we award you the Order of the Sacred Treasure 4th Class. To Cpl. Shimazu Saito we award the Order of the Sacred Treasure 4th Class. To Pvt. Gawaki Shota we award you the Order of the Sacred Treasure 4th Class. To PFC Reimaru Jin we award you the Order of the Sacred Treasure 4th Class. To Pvt. Shino Kotaro we award you the Order of the Sacred Treasure 4th Class."

"Now", said Major Daijin as she pulled out a piece of official looking paper, "Hitsayo Taira and Kotai Seiji who died in battle will both receive a posthumous two rank promotions. Cpl. Hitsayo Taira will receive the Order of the Sacred Treasure 2nd Class and Sgt. Kotai Seiji will receive the same."

A heavy silence hung over 5th squad at the mention of their fallen comrades.

They were all in their A Class formal/full-dress uniforms. They grouped together for a photograph. Deep down they knew the medals and photo were probably for propaganda, but they were happy to be appreciated somewhat nonetheless.

After they were dismissed they walked back towards their assigned barrack.

"Gawaki, how's the leg?" asked Kurosaki. Gawaki was shot in the leg and had to be evacuated to a MASH.

"Turns out they clipped on artery so I lost a lot of blood by the time they got me into surgery," said Gawaki tapping the spot where he was hit with his hand. "Then it get infected, otherwise I would be probably been there for the attack on the Chinese HQ."

"Trust me, you didn't miss much," said Shino.

"Hey, Kenji! How's the promotion to private 1st class?" called Kitsumori.

"It doesn't feel any different," said Harima. "You feel any different Ichigo?"

"Iē, it's nothing, but adding a chevron under the arc," said Kurosaki indicating the single arc and chevron that marked a private 1st class.

They entered 5th squad's barrack and were surprised to see a young woman sitting on the edge of an unclaimed bed. She was thin and a little on the short side. She had dark red hair, green eyes, and a smattering of freckles on her nose. Her appearance led Asou to suspect she wasn't Japanese, but she was wearing a Japanese Federal Army uniform.

"Ohaiyo private," said Asou walking towards her.

"Ohaiyo sergeant," said the woman rising to attention and saluting him, but there was an air of nervousness about her. "I am Pvt. Fujiwara Fiona. I was assigned to this squad."

Asou looked around the room. "Are you alone?"

"Hai… why?"

"I lost two soldiers in Shinomoseki, so I was expecting a Pvt. Ifukube Kunitake," explained Asou.

Fujiwara looked around herself, "no one else was here before you showed up."

"Okay," said Asou a little annoyed the Army couldn't send him two replacements at the same time, but happy to get at least one. "Well, the is 5th squad of the 27th Infantry Battalion and… Fujiwara where is you weapon?"

Fujiwara grabbed her arm with one hand and rubbed it nervously, "I was supposed to have an MP-5, but the Ministry of Defense just made a deal with H&K to buy .45 caliber pistols and sub-machines guns… so my gun is on backorder."

"Gotta' love the Army," said Shinmazu taking a seat on his cot.

"Are you missing any other gear?" asked Ikuro as she looked over her new subordinate.

"Uh… no. I have a sidearm and C Class uniforms in the new camouflage style," she said indicating an H&K USP .45 handgun and a pair of pants and jacket. It appeared that the Ministry of Defense had decided to go with the leopard style camouflage the Germans made instead of the American digital camouflage on the infantry uniform.

"When do we get them?" asked Harima from his cot where he was doing rough sketches for the next manga chapter.

"They're on back order last I heard," answered Hanai, "along with the USP .45s and a few other things."

Asou sighed and said, "Welcome to 5th squad, it's not heaven, but it's not hell… sorta'."

Fujiwara smiled shyly, "Arigato."

Fujiwara looked around the room. Since she was young she'd been an outcast. The other kids would avoid her because she didn't look Japanese. Some of the meaner one would call her half-breed because her mother was an Irish-American and she had a foreign name. She new better than most people that many of the older generations of Japanese feared non-ethnic Japanese.

Now, here she was with no primary weapon, no combat experience, no friends, and no medals. She looked on enviously at the medals that seemed to enforce the idea they were better than her. She felt dirty, low, and was highly intimidated by these soldiers, some of whom were twice her size and weight.

"Fiona?"

Fujiwara jumped. She was brooding so much she didn't know one of her new squad members was in front of her. She came eye to eye with a tall thin man with orange hair.

"Oi, you there?" he said scowling.

"Hai… you are?" she asked nervously.

"PFC Kurosaki, but you can call me Ichigo," said Kurosaki taking a seat on the cot next to her. He kicked off his boots, removed the jacket, and undid his tie before lying down on his bed. "Something bothering you?"

"Iē."

"You feel different from other Japanese, right?" Kurosaki asked quietly.

Slowly, Fujiwara nodded.

"I know how you feel," said Kurosaki tapping his head to indicate his hair.

"Are you 100 percent Nihonjin (5)?" she whispered so others couldn't hear.

"Hai. You?"

"………"

"Half?"

"People… treat me… I was born in this country," she sobbed, "but it's like I'm not human… I was always alone and… just because I'm half Irish. Why me? I can speak Japanese better than most Japanese, I'm Shinto like most people in this country… why?"

"Yeah," nodded Kurosaki, "looking different is hard. People always picked fights with me. My teachers would try to fail me so I had to study extra hard. My girlfriend's brother is always staring at my hair like he wants shave it off." He laughed at that last comment.

"Yeah, people always picked me because they say I look like trouble or gonna' robbed them," said a voice suddenly. Fujiwara wheeled right and saw a muscular man with his hair slicked back and sunglasses sitting next to her crying in an almost anime-style-melodramatic sort of way.

"They called me names because of my hair and tattoos," said a man with long bright red hair and weird tattoos in the place of eyebrows.

"And me for being obsessive," said another muscular man with trick square framed glasses.

Suddenly the three men grabbed each other for support and sob simultaneously, "WHY CAN'T PEOPLE ACCEPT US FOR WHO WE ARE?!"

Fujiwara couldn't breathe because she was so overwhelmed by this sudden acceptance and understanding… but mostly because Hanai, Harima, and Abarai were stronger, heavier, and larger than her and were physically crushing her.

"In 5th squad, the strange and different will always have a home," said Ishida as he watched this amusing scene. "The normal don't belong here."

"You just do your part and watch our backs," said Kitsumori, "and you'll always have a place among."

"Guys," said Ikuro, "this is really nice… but can you loosen your grip before she suffocates?"

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**0800 Hours; September 15****th****, 2010; Yellow Sea, off the coast of the Korean Peninsula**

(This section is in English unless stated otherwise)

"Ensign Clouseau, my apologizes for calling your team so early," said a white haired woman.

"Please Captain, you need no apologizes," said Clouseau taking his seat in the briefing room along with Uruz Team.

Lt. Commander Kalinin stepped forward and waited for an image to appear on screen behind me. "The map before you has multiple areas circled on red. SEAL teams and Marine Corps Force Recon's covert platoons will be deployed to strike these targets along the coast. More inland targets circled in yellow will be targets will be struck by Delta's covert platoons and Air Force Special Forces will be painting targets for our F-35s and F-117s."

Kalinin waited a few seconds for the next image to come. "This is one of the enemy's substations. It supplies power to several installations, both communications and radar that coordinate a lot of the enemy's Triple-A (anti-air artillery) systems."

"The 7th Fleet is assembling in Hiroshima, Kitakyushu, and Shinomoseki," said Captain Testarossa. "Operation: Republic's Typhoon will commence soon. D-Day is set for the 25th. H-Hour is 0500 hours for air operations, 0515 hours for airborne infantry landings, 0700 hours for naval operations, and 0720 hours for beach landings."

"Captain?" said 2nd Lt. Soifon who was still working with USS Tuatha de Danaan.

"Yes Lt. Soifon?"

"When do we commence operations?"

"2000 hours of the 24th," answered Captain Testarossa. "Specific details are available to all of you and I expect each of you to know every detail of this operation. This will be the biggest operation the Danaan has ever participated in. Do your best. You are dismissed."

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**1000 Hours; September 15****th****, 2010; a Japanese Federal Naval Yard, Shinomoseki; Yamaguchi Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

(This section will be in Japanese unless stated otherwise)

Lieutenant JG Sagano Megumi was stretching as she stood on the flight deck of the JFS Sutsuru. Pilots were chosen at random in both the air force and navy to learn to fly planes off and on carriers. Sagano as a helicopter pilot who flew sorties from an amphibious assault ship was chosen to be fly fighters off the Sutsuru.

She was taken quietly to Okinawa where she was instructed by American Naval Aviators. She practiced take off and landings in an old F-4EJ Phantom off the USS Dwight Eisenhower. She'd learned air tactics and practiced in mock battles with veteran Americans.

She was now a pilot in the 1st Japanese Naval Fighter Squadron and flew an American built F-14D Super Tomcat.

"Ma'am, are you okay?" asked a voice behind her. She looked at her wingman Ensign Asakawa Sayaka.

"I'm fine and Sayaka, you don't have to call me ma'am. Call me Megumi," said Sagano for what she felt like the millionth time.

"Hai ma'am, dully noted," answered Asakawa in the monotone voice soldiers used to address superiors. Sagano sweat-dropped at her wingman who never seemed to hear Sagano's requests and pleas to use her given name. The girl never seemed to get the message in two months they'd known each other.

Sagano sighed as Asakawa stood at attention next to her, "… at ease for the love of Kami-sama (6)."

"Hai," she said letting her body relax a little, but still looking like she was at attention.

"Is this how you deal with stress?"

"Iē, ma'am."

"Megumi," corrected Sagano. "So… are you scared?"

"Hai, ma'am."

"Megumi," growled Sagano. "… and I'm scared too."

"Who isn't?"

A moment of silence passed. They watched a group of foreign warships entered port.

"Sayaka, what ship is that?" asked Sagano pointing at a carrier pulling into port.

"Ma'am… er… Megumi," corrected Asakawa when Sagano gave her a death glare, "I believe it's the German aircraft carrier Prussian."

The Prussian pulled into a dock. A gangplank was lowered and a group of Deutsche Marine escorted a lone Japanese Federal Air Force pilot.

"Herr (Mr.) Nara, we wish you a safe trip to your base," said Kapitan zur See (7) Rainer Kellerman in German; he was the commander of the Prussian. Stabsbootsmann Mieke Wagner translated her superior's words into Japanese.

"Arigato gozaimasu (thank you very much) Kellerman-sama," said Nara.

"Danke Herr Kapitan Kellerman," translated Wagner for Nara.

"Bitte sehr," said Kapitan zur See Kellerman.

"Iē, zenzen," translated Wagner.

A Japanese Federal Air Force jeep was waiting for Nara. A senior airman (8) saluted upon seeing Nara, who was a superior officer to the young soldier.

Kapitan Kellerman and Wagner saluted Nara with a click of their heels, a sudden snap to attention, and bringing their hands to their foreheads.

"Auf wiedersehen," said Kapitan Kellerman.

"Sayonara," said Wanger.

"Sayonara," said Nara as he climbed into the jeep.

"How do you feel Lt. Nara?" inquired the senior airman as he droved to the nearest airbase that could send Nara to Takasu AFB.

"Ii desu (good)," said Nara. "I was told the date for the invasion was announce."

"Hai, they'll tell you about when you get to your base."

"Good, the sooner we do that, the sooner we can go home."

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**1800 Hours; September 19****th****, 2010; Sendai; Miyagi Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

Kurosaki was sitting on the grass of a hill that over looked the city of Sendai. Next to him was a short petite girl with black hair that went to her shoulders and wide purple eyes. She was dressed in an army uniform like Kurosaki's, but it was made with better material. She also had a silver parachute insignia stitched above the breast pocket and on her shoulder was unit insignia of the 1st Airborne Division. The two of them had their hands intertwined on the grass between them.

"Nice to get some leave," said Kuchiki Rukia.

"Yeah," agreed Kurosaki Ichigo.

"I've been meaning to ask you early today, what happened to your tooth?" she asked indicating a recent false tooth.

"Renji knocked it out during a training exercise."

"I see your training hard too," said Kuchiki. "We're supposed to go in first, ahead of the beach landings. Tatsuki's pretty nervous about it."

"We all are."

"What's it like in Korea?" asked Kuchiki.

Kurosaki shrugged, "I was still in training when the army was still fighting in the RoK (Republic of Korea). You can ask Kenji about?"

"Kenji?"

"Harima Kenji… uh actually I think you've read his mangas… mmmm… I think he said his penname is Harima Hario."

"Harima Hario!" said Kuchiki leaping to her feet. "I've read all his manga since he started writing two years ago. Could you introduce me?"

"For drawing lessons?" asked Kurosaki with a grin.

**WHAM!**

"That hurt Rukia," groaned Kurosaki how was lying on the ground in pain after Kuchiki hit him with her trusty sketchbook.

"Wimp," she said, but helped him up nonetheless. Kurosaki however took this opportunity to pull her down on top of him. She was startled at first, but relaxed as she felt a warm pair of arms wrapped around her small body. Kuchiki rested her forehead on his and smiled at him. Their lips moving closer, closer…

**Beep-beep, beep-beep.**

Kuchiki and Kurosaki both sat bolt up right and glared at their wristwatches as though they wished to do nothing more than smash them into dust.

"Just 5 minutes," growled Kuchiki as they walked back to the base, "we just needed 5 fucking minutes."

"Yeah," said Kurosaki looking equally frustrated.

"Oh, Ichigo before I forget," said Kuchiki reaching into an inside pocket, "Hitsugaya-sempai is your company CO (commander officer), right?"

"Hai."

"Momo made me promise to give this to you to give to him," said Kuchiki handing him a letter addressed to 'Shiro-chan'.

"…………….. he's not going to like this," said Kurosaki referring to the way Hinamori had addressed the letter. He glanced at the return address, "Lieutenant JG Hinamori Momo? Since when did she get to be an officer?"

"Baka (idiot), she's been an officer for months and she's the aide-de-camp and assistant to the commander of the Sutsuru, she was telling you that when we saw her three weeks ago," said Kuchiki.

"Soooooooooooo?" said Kurosaki not wanting to give up… or admit that he had no idea what she was talking about.

"Also, this is for Renji," said Kuchiki handing him a second letter.

"Pvt. Arisawa Tatsuki, eh? I can only guess what this says," said Kurosaki with a sly grin which Kuchiki returned.

"Yeah, it's pretty interesting."

"You read it?"

"Iē (no)!" Kuchiki screamed in his face, but the way her face was turning red said otherwise. "Here's one for Ishida-kun."

"From who?" asked Kurosaki. He stared in shock at the return address. "34th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) Regiment; Cpt. Inoue Orihime? How did she get to be a captain?"

"She's a surgeon, and surgeons have to hold the minimal rank of captain," said Kuchiki, but in a tone that she didn't believe it either.

"I like Inoue and all, but… I'm not sure I'd trust her to cut me open," said Kurosaki recalling Inoue's clumsiness.

"I don't know either… just get those letters to them," ordered Kuchiki.

"Yes dear," said Kurosaki mockingly.

"That's no way to talk to your girlfriend," said Kuchiki stomping on Kurosaki's foot. Kurosaki chased Kuchiki as best he could the rest of the way while limping.

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**1300 Hours; September 23****rd****, 2010; NATO East Asian/West Pacific HQ, Tokyo; Tokyo Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

NATO commanders were eating lunch together while discussing the invasion in one of the last few meetings.

"We want to give the enemy as little warning as possible so I want ships to depart on the afternoon of the 24th at the earliest, but no later than 0300 hours of the 25th," said General O'Grady.

"General, I request you allow me to have Orions sweep ahead of the fleets for Chinese submarines," requested Admiral Benson.

"I second that motion," said Admiral Mizuryū.

"Granted, I don't any surprises from the enemy," said O'Grady.

"Lennox, are you spec ops warriors ready?" asked O'Grady.

"Wombosi, Smerikov, McKay, and Burnstein will lead Delta's attacks. Kalinin, Chang, Smith, and Garcia will lead the SEALs attacks. Captain Testarossa will act as my field commander," said Brigadier General Lennox. "I've got Boyd, Solomon, and Shinhachi to land with the soldiers at Pusan to make sure our forces can get off the beaches and secure the deep water port. Erickson and Mulcahy will support the lands at Kunsan (or Gunsan). They're gonna' be joined by Foxworthy of the Air Force Special Force who is to retake Kusan AFB (9) from PKAF."

"Thank you Brig. General Lennox. What's the status on landing craft?"

"We have LCU 1610, 1627, and 1646 Class (10) landing craft on board all the amphibious assault ships. Royal Navy LCU Mk. 10 Class landing craft (11) are to go. So are the German's Barbe Class utility landing craft. LCACs will bring in armor that we can't fit on LCUs. Are LCU 2000 (12) Class tank landing craft will come in a little behind the LCU 1627s, Mk. 10s, Barbes and LCACs with the main armor force," said Admiral Benson.

"Is there enough LCUs for other NATO units?"

"The French, South Koreans, Turks, Greeks, and Canadians have brought their own. The Dutch, Belgians, and Albanians will have to use our LCUs."

"What about the Japanese?"

"We have enough of the 1627 Class to mobilize our forces," said Admiral Mizuryū, "… but we can't afford to lose too many of the 2000 Class tank landing craft."

"How many could you afford to loss before it became a problem?"

"No more than 6 or 7," she said flatly.

"What about transport planes?" asked O'Grady looking around.

"We have no shortage of planes," said RAF General Beckworth. "We have our C-17s. You Yanks have your C-5 Galaxies. The Germans and French have the Transall C.160. And it's not like the Japanese and South Koreans don't have a surplus of C-130 Hercules."

"Point taken," said General O'Grady. "How is troop training going?"

"O'Grady," said General Kobayashi Jin (13), supreme commander of the Federal Military in a calming tone, "everything we can possibly do has been done at this point. All we can do is wait for the day."

O'Grady sighed, "I guess your right."

"Now what?" asked a South Korean officer.

"Pass the rice, if you please."

* * *

I hope this chapter gives you idea of what the next few chapters will be like. I think I've got them planned out, but my experience has taught me that my planes change. The action begins next chapter. Stay tuned for the crew of the Tuatha de Danaan firing the first shots of Operation: Republic's Typhoon in commando raids.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. Central Link is a commuter light rail train system in the Seattle area that has not yet opened. It is expected to begin service in 2009 and will run from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to Pine Street and 4th Ave where it can connect with South Lake Union Streetcars and Seattle Monorail. It will also pass through Tukwila International Airport, Safeco Baseball Stadium and King Street Train Station (Seattle), and other areas of interest or areas that connect with other transportation lines.

2. It is not legal to carry or transport firearms or any weapons outside of the United States, in an airport, or on a commercial plane without curtain licenses. Few people would be allowed to carry a gun on a plane legally. Examples would include Federal Air Marshals, curtain branches of the FBI, CIA, Secret Service, and high level special forces soldiers.

3. The Heckler & Koch G-416 comes standard as a carbine with a length of 14.5 inches. Most carbines have a barrel with the length of about 14 inches. H&K makes a version of the G-416 with a 20 inch barrel which is the same length as the M-16 series barrels.

4. Gilt is a thin covering of gold.

5. Nihon (or Nippon) is the Japanese word for Japan. Nihongo (or Nippongo) means Japanese language. Nihonjin (or Nipponjin) means Japanese person.

6. Kami-sama is the name that the Japanese called the Christian God. Only 2 percent of the Japanese population is actually practicing Christians. Most of Japan is still Shinto.

7. Kapitan zur See is a captain in the navy. I believe it literally means captain of the sea. It's Heer (Army) and Luftwaffe (Air Force) equivalent is Oberst (Colonel).

8. Senior Airman (SrA) is an air force enlisted rank. NATO rank code is OR-4, the same as an army corporal.

9. Kunsan Air Force Base is a real US Air Force base in Kunsan, South Korea. It should also be noted that one of the Air Force Special Forces primary jobs are to capture airports and airfields.

10. The LCU 1610, 1627, and 1646 Classes are all basically modern versions of the old World War II Higgins landing craft. They have a speed of 8kt (15km/h), have two 12.7x99mm heavy machine guns for defense, a crew of 10, and can carry 125 tons of cargo or 400 soldiers. It can also transport one M1A2 Abram tanks, three or four M2A2 Bradley APCs, or about 5 HMMWVs.

11. LCU Mk. 10 Class is a British landing craft much the same as the 1610, 1627, and 1646 Classes. It is however to go 8.5kt (16km/h), but can only carry a 120 troops, four vehicles, or one tank.

12. The LCU 2000 Class tank landing craft is a larger landing craft that like the name implies, carries tanks and vehicles. It has a large ramp on the front like the infantry craft that lowers for vehicles and armor. Fully loaded it can go 10kt (19km/h), carry a cargo of 350 tons, has a crew of 13, is 174ft (53m) long, and officially has no defensive or offensive armaments. It can carry five M1A2 Abrams, roughly 20 M2A2 Bradley APCs, or 25 HMMWVs. Unlike their smaller counter-parts like the 1627 Class, the 2000 Class are too large to be transport by amphibious assault ships and therefore can operation independently of amphibious assault ships in the open ocean.

13. Jin Kobayashi is actually the author of School Rumble.


	39. Chapter 39: Op Republic's Typhoon Part 1

Well, here's the beginning of the chapters that ya'll been waiting for… or at least Gin says he or she is waiting for (thank you for the review). In this chapter we'll be following the special forces teams of the Tuatha de Danaan as they begin to sabotage the PKA and PLA's defenses.

I don't own any trademark or copywrite item. Please review and/or tell a friend.

* * *

**Chapter 39: Operation: Republic's Typhoon**

**Part I: First Shots**

Captain Price: "There's civil war in Russian and 10,000 nukes at stake."

Gaz: "Just another day at the office."

Dialog from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

**1940 Hours; September 24****th****, 2010**

(Conversations in this chapter will be in English unless stated otherwise)

Everywhere around the world, NATO leaders were glancing at their clocks and watches. In Germany the Chancellor kept looking up at her wall mounted clock. In the United Kingdom the Prime Minister nervously checked his wristwatch at random intervals. In France the President was pacing his office. In the United States, President Crane had completely abandoned her work and stared at the old grandfather clock in the Oval Office. In Japan, Prime Minister Aokami was just sitting in the dark, waiting for the clock to chime 8:00 pm.

General O'Grady was playing free cell on his laptop, but he could barely concentrate knowing the largest amphibious invasion since World War II was about to begin.

Brigadier General Lennox was doing paperwork and seemed unaffected by the stress… maybe because he was too used to it.

Shinhachi, Maiwald, and Solomon were sitting in a dark office with a single lamp. They were playing cards and listening to a radio that was tuned to the USS Tuatha de Danaan's transmissions as it prepared to deploy commandos to strike at the PLA and PKA's defenses.

Mai was doing her homework with Yakumo while Tenma neglected hers to watch Three who got Slashed. All three unaware of what was happening.

Captain Hitsugaya was sitting in mess hall of the JFS Kunisaki, one of the Japanese's amphibious assault ships. He was writing a letter addressed to a 'Bed-Wetter Momo'. He checked his watch. In a few hours the Japanese's 6th Division, 1st Marine Division, and 7th Armor Division along with other nation's divisions would set sail for Pusan with roughly a fourth of the NATO invasion force.

5th squad was killing time in they're own unique ways down below deck of the JFS Kunisaki.

Nara was sleeping because he would have to be in the air by 4:00 am and he would need as much sleep as possible.

Kuchiki Rukia was sleeping in her barrack. She too would be up early as the paratroopers would drop roughly an hour and a half before dawn.

Suō Mikoto and Ichijo Karen were eating dinner on another amphibious assault ship that was already leaving Hiroshima with the 1st Escort Fleet and the USS Dwight Eisenhower carrier battle group bound for Kusan.

Emma Heckler was putting finishing touches on her newest manga. She looked at the photo of her and Jack at her brother's wedding. She knew somehow that the invasion was about to begin. She just knew somehow in heart.

In Moscow, Premier Bolotnikov did paperwork. He knew something was up in the Far East, but right now he was more concerned with the threat of civil war in Russia. His country and life were at stake right now.

In Vladivostok, General Polikov waited for the K-480 Bars, an Akula-I Class nuclear powered attack submarine that was currently in the Sea of Japan to observe NATO, Chinese, and North Korean activities.

Vice-Marshal (1) Yong was eating a late diner in his home in Pyongyang.

General Chen, commander of the 2nd Army of the People's Liberation Army waited to hear from General Xiao who commanded the 4th Army. The XI Corps of the 4th Army was stationed in Korea. Chen had asked Xiao and Admiral Zhuo of the 4th Fleet to call him, he needed to warn Xiao and Zhuo that General Cheung's spy had been captured by the Americans and that the Japanese may have already completed their carrier and cruisers. Chen doubt his overly confident ultra-nationalistic friends would call any time soon. It self-esteem lacking friend General Wong would probably fall apart upon hearing that and he didn't know how the rest would react.

General Xung, supreme commander of the People's Liberation Army, was discussing matters with General Cao, commander of People's Liberation Army Air Force (2), and General Enlai, commander of the People's Liberation Army Ground Forces.

General Cheung was looking at a map of the Pacific Ocean which included East Asia and the North American west coast. He had just lost contact with all his spies in Japan more than a month ago. NATO counter-intelligence officers had done a mass sweep and either captured them, killed them, or forced them to break contact with Beijing and go into hiding. This was an extremely bad sign that NATO was making sure no one was reporting on their activities. Cheung read the last three reports he had. One said that NATO was intensifying their soldiers training. A second reported that the NATO talking about securing the seas and airspace around the Strait of Korea. The third and most worrying was the report saying the Japanese were increasing production of landing craft. He had a forth unrelated report that say Japan was building a second and third aircraft carrier in Kure Naval Base plus several new cruisers, but none of these ships would be ready for a couple of years. It was a wonder the Japanese had completed one carrier in a matter of months, it could only be possible if they'd partially built in secret. He wondered what else the Japanese could have prepared under their noses.

They world revolves around the sun as it had done for millions of years. Most people of the Earth were eating, playing, learning, or working... or sleeping, depending on a person's time zone. For most of the world, no one knew what about to begin.

But they would soon, because the time was about to come.

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**1950 Hours; September 24****th****, 2010; USS Tuatha de Danaan, Yellow Sea**

In the 19 years Captain Teletha Testarossa had been alive, she'd accomplished quite a lot. She'd scored off the charts in school. She'd been accepted early in the Annapolis United States Navy Academy (3), designed the nuclear carrier submarine she now commanded, she officially declared a genius, and graduated early from Annapolis.

She was now about to command the largest covert campaign of the war and one of the largest covert campaign since the 1980s. She was also about to order soldiers to fire the first shots of the invasion.

Her heart rate was up tonight. Sweat was slowly accumulating on her forehead. She had to give the enemy as little warning as possible or they may suspect the invasion of coming. The USS Virginia had reported seeing increased activity along the coast and Chinese warships were gathering in the East China Sea. The USS Texas had to shut off her engines to avoid detection from a Harbin SH-5 ASW (anti-submarine warfare) patrol plane. It was obvious the enemy was suspicious and these pre-invasion raids may alert them.

"Captain! We have incoming transmission from Washington!" called a communication officer. A Morse Code (4) translator was clicking away rapidly as it translated a final order.

The com-officer passed it to Commander Mardukas who handed it to Captain Testarossa.

It read 'Eyes Only; Destroy After Reading' at the top of the message.

'To: Captain Teletha Testarossa; Commander of SCVN-01 USS Tuatha de Danaan. From: Secretary of Defense Anthony Meltzer. By order of the Federal Government, you Cpt. Testarossa arm four Trident II ICBM nuclear missiles in the event the enemy attempts to use their nuclear capabilities, stop. Order USS Michigan to do same, stop. Do not fire without clear instructions from the President of the United States, stop. Pray that order does not come, stop. If covert strikes cannot complete objectives without your support you may use Trident IIIs with conventional warheads or cruise missiles, stop. Do not surface the SCVN-01 without permission from Washington, stop. Good night and good luck, stop. End transmission.'

Captain Testarossa stared at her orders in horror. Naturally, with first strike capability (5) she should have been expected to be given such an order. She knew the Chinese did have nuclear capabilities and North Korea had limited nuclear capabilities. She doubted the Chinese would use nuclear weapons, but she wondered if the North Koreans were dumb enough to use them.

"Captain?" spoke Commander Mardukas, he was concerned to see the color drain so quickly from his superior's face.

Captain Testarossa pulled out a lighter and set fire to the message. Once it was burning sufficiently she placed it in a metal trashcan next to her chair. She took a deep breath and said, "Arm missile tubes 1 through 4 with Trident II thermal nuclear ICBMs (inter-continental ballistic missile)."

The crew looked at her in shock, but did as they were told.

"Send a coded message to the Michigan to do the same," she ordered. "Arm missile tubes 5 and 6 with Trident IV conventional burst missiles and tubes 7 through 10 with Tomahawk cruise missiles. Leave tubes 11 and 12 empty for now."

"Aye ma'am," responded the crew.

"Ma'am, Michigan is arming missiles now," called the com-officer.

**Beep-beep-beep, beep-beep-beep**.

The rapid pulsing beep of a wristwatch went off.

"It's time," said Captain Testarossa. "Tell Perth 1 to deploy now."

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**2400 Hours; September 25****th****, 2010; South Gyeongsang Province, 80km west of Pusan; (Occupied) Republic of Korea**

Gyeongsangnam-do or South Gyeongsang Province was one of three provinces that made up the southern coast of South Korea. A burly man in his 50s with neat grey hair and a neatly trimmed mustache and beard walked onto the beach in a wetsuit.

He removed the mask and scanned the horizon.

"This is Perth 1, all is clear," said Lt. Commander Andrei Kalilin. He was unofficially the first person to set foot on Korea. He was unofficial because as a spec ops warrior he didn't officially exist.

Out of the shadows and rolling waves emerged figures. They removed their wetsuits and stowed the equipment in packs. They couldn't leave the wetsuits or air tanks on the beach where an enemy patrol could stumble upon them and report it.

"Uruz 2, take your men to those trees," ordered Kalinin.

"Uzur 2 copies, over," said Mao as she led Sagara, Weber, and Pamuk up the beach towards the tree line. She was armed with an H&K G-36C SD, Weber had an H&K MP-5 SD with folding stock and a Barrett M82A1A, Pamuk was carrying an FN Herstal P-90 SD and a SMAW anti-tank rocket launcher, and Saraga had an H&K G-36C SD.

They scanned the area for hostiles.

"Clear," reported Mao.

"All units, proceed with objectives, Perth 1 out."

2nd Lt. Soifon led her team along a creek bed. They were climbing up one of the many mountains that lined southern coast of South Korea and covered pretty much all of the Korean Peninsula and into China and the Soviet Union.

"I see movement," reported Sinzyu 4. "… three contacts… they're armed."

"Can you ID them?" asked Soifon.

"…. they're PKA," said Sinzyu 4.

Lt. Soifon was silent for a few seconds so as to watch the patrol. "Looks like they'll walk by… let them pass."

"Roger that."

After three minutes of waiting, Lt. Soifon waved her four man team forward. They scaled the step slops, but tried to find easier routes so they wouldn't tire themselves out before a firefight.

"It's getting cold again," complained a man in Korean from somewhere ahead. The four soldiers hit the dirt and crawled forward through brush and grass.

"It's fall, what would you expect?" asked another man. It was getting cold, even in September Korea tended to get cool and in a couple of months it would get cold and then freezing.

"I bet those Jap dogs are probably worse off after the damage our military did to their nation," laughed a third man.

Sgt. Togo, who spoke Korean, had to put a hand over his mouth to stop from laughing out loud. Clearly the People's Democratic Republic of (North) Korea State Media was feeding its people stories that they'd destroyed most of Japan beyond repair. Last he'd seen it, which was only last week, Japan was doing perfectly well.

"What are you men doing?" demanded a female voice. Judging by the words she used and her tone, Togo guessed she was an officer or non-commissioned officer.

"Just talk sergeant," said one of the men.

"You should be watching the screen, what if NATO ships or planes attack?" she asked in a commanding tone.

"Sinzyu 2, take the sergeant," ordered Lt. Soifon. "Sinzyu 3 take the man on the right. Sinzyu 4 take the one in the middle…… ready?"

"Ready," they answered.

"…. 5,4,3,2,1, mark."

A dozen silent shots were fired from the brush and into the PKA soldiers.

"I'll take point, Sinzyu 2 follow," ordered Lt. Soifon. "3 and 4 cover us."

Soifon scanned the surroundings with her H&K G-36C that she was just issued. Lately a lot of Heckler & Koch's guns were appearing in the Japanese Federal Military's units, but H&K's weapons were among the top of the line and no one complained. Master Sergeant (MSG) Takano Akira scanned in the opposite direction from Soifon with her G-36C.

P-14/5N84A Tall King was sitting in a clearing on top of the mountain that they'd just cleared of enemy soldiers. It was a tall radar antenna shaped much like a radar dish mounted on a trailer. Next to radar trailer was an auxiliary trailer with the systems power source and controls.

Sgt. Togo moved forwards with his H&K G-36E, but stayed on the edge of the clearing in a watch over position with Sgt. Takezawa, Sinzyu 4.

MSG Takano moved over to the auxiliary trailer and pulled open a panel on the outside of the trailer. She carefully looked over the wires and circuits in front of her. She pulled out a set of wire cutters and clipped a few carefully chosen wires. The station still had power, but the screens wouldn't receive any information. It could be days before the PKA found the source of the problem.

Takano smiled at her handy work. 'None of our pilots will be put in danger by this machine.'

It had nearly made her heart stop when she heard transmissions that said that a curtain pilot she knew had nearly been killed by the enemy. She didn't want him or any of his comrades put in any more danger that they would already be in.

"Let's move for the Triple-A sites," said Lt. Soifon.

They crouched across the clearing to the side of the mountain that was facing the coast. Two mountains formed a valley and roughly between the two was a wide beach. In less than six hours the US 54th Infantry Division, US 12th Armor Division, Turkish 2nd Mechanized Infantry Division, British 30th Royal Guards Armor Division, and British 2nd Royal Marine Division would land here. This was a stretch of Korea that was poorly defended and if it was taken quickly it would allow NATO to drive a wedge between the communist forces on the southern coast. Additional soldiers would follow once the Americans, British, and Turks cleared a beachhead.

"Hard to believe over 200,000 soldiers will land here, but if it works we could keep the enemy from reinforcing each other between Kusan and Pusan and cut them off," said Sgt. Takezawa.

They climbed down the slopes. Togo stopped and leaned down. He picked up a cable showed it to the others.

"It's too light for a power line," said Lt. Soifon looking at it. "Looks like it's a telephone line or some kind of LAN line."

"It'll probably lead us to AA sites. Intel says it'll be a trench system with a mix of SA-6 Gainfuls, SA-16 Gimlet (6), ZPU-4s, and ZU-23s."

"You trust intel?"

"This is from US ONI (Office of Navy Intelligence), not the CIA. They're specially created to serve the US Navy so they know our needs better."

"Shhh."

"Did you here something?" asked a man in Korean.

"Probably nothing, nobody is going to come to this place."

"Yeah, you're probably right."

"Cut the line," ordered Lt. Soifon. Takano used her wire cutters to sever the cord.

They were on top of a steep slop that overlooked a trench line about 8m below them.

"I see 30 plus infantry, two ZPU-4s AA gun, one AZP S-60 57mm AA gun, two SA-16 duel-mount SAMs, and at least six SA-16 handheld SAMs," reported Sgt. Takezawa quietly into his radio so the AA platoon wouldn't hear him.

"Sinzyu 3, that ridge to your right has both cover and concealment. Looks like it will give you full coverage of the trench," said Lt. Soifon.

"Rodger that ma'am," said Sgt. Togo as crept to the indicated firing position. Since he had the full sized version of the G-36, he had the most accurate weapon. Togo also had an FN Minimi slung over his back, but he didn't want to use the unsuppressed weapon for fear of drawing the attention of every People's Korean Army soldier for miles. He selected semi-auto in his G-36E and slowly scanned the trench for the target that would present the most danger to them. "This is Sinzyu 3, in position and ready."

"Sinzyu 4, move to the left flank and get ready to cut off any PKA soldiers when we sweep the trench."

Sgt. Takezawa with his FN P-90 SD crept to the low part of the slope by some rocks near the exit of the trench. He had a good view of one of the ZPU-4 quad barrel anti-air guns (7) and the AZP S-60 (8).

Lt. Soifon led Sgt. Takano towards the right flank of the trench. They both stood in the shadows with their weapons.

Soifon fired a quick burst of 5.52x45mm rounds into two guards who keeled over upon being hit. A third soldier raised her PPSh-41 sub-machine gun, but was hit in the back of the head by Togo.

The North Koreans were confused. They were being attacked by two commandos with silenced carbines and a third who was sniping them with a silenced assault rifle, but the actions were happening too fast for them to figure out they were only being attack by three people. Unbeknownst to the PKA soldiers, Sgt. Takezawa was crouching low waiting for the order to cut off their retreat.

Soifon moved low and swiftly through the trench sweeping out little kooks-and-crannies. Takano moved parallel to the trench to sweep out a couple of foxholes.

The last few PKA soldiers ran out of the left end of the trench. Takezawa saw them and fired a full automatic burst of 5.7x28mm rounds and cut through the dozen soldiers. Takezawa slowly walked over to the soldiers he'd just shot. He fired a couple of shots to be sure they were dead; he'd seen soldiers play dead and then shoot Japanese soldiers in the back more than once.

Some of the PKA soldiers had fired a few rounds. Lt. Soifon hoped the high winds generated by the sea would smother the noise. While Togo and Takezawa watch for enemy patrols, Soifon and Takano removed the firing pins from the AA guns. Lt. Soifon then picked up one of the SA-16 Gimlet to Takezawa and a couple of tubes with additional rockets. He slung them over his back.

"Let's move to the next site," said Lt. Soifon.

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**0158 Hours; September 25****th****, 2010; South Gyeongsang Province, 77km west of Pusan; (Occupied) Republic of Korea**

"This is Uruz 5, I'm in position," said Petty Officer 2nd Class (PO2) Kurtz Weber looking through the x16 zoom scope of his M82A1A sniper rifle.

He was overlooking a small helicopter base. It was placed cleverly in a narrow valley between two mountains so it would be easily overlooked by aircraft and even if it was it was spotted it would be difficult to attack the base unless you moved along the valley. There was a shallow creek that had eroded the ground around it revealing rocks on the sunken creek bed and roots along the walls of the creek bed. A dirt road ran parallel to the creek and in some places was crumbling into the creek where it came too close to the road. In a flat clearing was 5 Mi-24 Hinds and an empty helipad for a transport helicopter bringing supplies.

"What can you see Uruz 6?" asked Mao.

"The base is dark, no lights on at all… probably so they can't be spotted from the air. I see five Hinds, two UAZs, four Urals, one generator, and one communication truck. There are three guards that I can confirm, one by the choppers, one by generator, and one by the com-truck," reported Weber.

"Any armor?"

"…. negative ma'am."

"Cover us Uruz 6. Uruz 5 and Uruz 7 follow me," ordered Mao.

"Uruz 5 copies," said Pamuk.

"Understood ma'am," said Sagara.

Mao led her team across the creek bed, up the road, and through some low trees near the choppers.

Pamuk quietly moved towards the Hinds. He crept around one of the Hinds. He drew out his knife, he placed a hand over the PKA guard's mouth, and slit his throat. He dragged the corpse into the brush and hid it. With the lone guard eliminated, Mao and Sagara placed C4 on the Hinds while Pamuk covered them.

Next they moved through the brush to com-truck and generator. Mao crawled on her belly towards the com-truck. The guard yawned and sleepily scanned the cliff edges of the valley. Mao pulled herself under the truck and attached a C4 charge to the fuel tank. She quietly slipped out from under the truck and into brush. Sagara crawled to the generator and put a C4 charge on the fuel tank.

They then extracted to Weber's position.

"Ready?" asked Mao. They nodded. Mao pulled out a remote detonator. She flicked up the plastic cover over the button, she then released the safety, and then she pressed the red button.

**BOOM! POW! BOOM!**

"Stand by for confirmation," said Weber.

They watched the small makeshift base burn.

"All five Hinds are destroyed, communication truck is destroyed, and generator is destroyed," said Weber.

"Okay, our next objective is to cut phone lines. We have a bit of walking to do," said Mao.

They traveled east along the road. After about a half hour…

"You hear that?" asked Weber.

"…. sounds like a convoy," said Sagara.

"Hide," ordered Mao.

Pamuk dashed into the shrubs with Sagara. He pulled out the SMAW and armed it. Sagara got a second rocket ready for a quick reload.

Mao was hiding in a crevice in the wall of creek bed. Weber was lying on his belly with his M82A1A set up on its bipod on a sandbar in the middle of the creek bed.

A small convoy was coming up the road heading west, headlights blaring. There was a BMP-2 APC leading the column with a UAZ with a gunner manning a PKM light machine gun following and four Ural-4320 6x6 trucks behind them. Bring up the rear was Type 55 (9) with a ZPU-2 mounted on its bed.

"Let them pass," said Mao. If she had a second team with her she may have been incline to attack the convoy, but she didn't and she was worried they may be reported by the PKA soldiers.

"RPG!" shouted Weber in his radio.

"Huh?"

"Where?"

The second Weber had said it, an AT rocket from an RPG-7 shrieked from the opposite side of the creek and into the BMP-2 causing it to explode. The BMP-2's shattered remained rolled into the creek bed and flipped over.

Tracers from automatic weapons fire streaked through air from all directions.

"Master Chief Mao, what's happening?" asked Pamuk.

"I don't know, but whoever is shooting ain't with SOCOM," said Mao.

The weapons fire made the distinctive chatter of Soviet based weapons, so they were either Kalashnikovs (10) or Chinese variations of the Kalashnikovs.

The Urals crashed into each other. Confused North Koreans manning the ZPU-2 fired 14.5mm rounds into the woods.

"Uruz 5, take out the armored car," ordered Mao.

"Rodger that ma'ma."

An 83mm AT rocket smashed into the rear of the Type 55 destroying the ZPU-2 and the vehicle.

"Clear to shoot," said Mao.

"Rodger, opening fire," said Weber as he fired a .50 caliber anti-material cartridge into the head of the gunner on the UAZ.

Mao tossed an M67 frag grenade into a group of PKA soldiers. Pamuk and Sagara charged the convoy with bursts of automatic fire.

"This is Uruz 5, all is clear," said Pamuk.

"This is Uruz 7, clear," said Sagara.

"Come Kurtz," said Mao walking over to him, "let's see who are new friends are."

A group of men and women of a very wide age spread was now gathering around the decimated convoy. They had armbands with the flag of the Republic of Korea on it. The youngest look 14 and the oldest looked like they were in their 60s. They were carrying a mixture of Chinese and North Korean weapons such as the AK-47, RPD light machine gun, PPSh-41 sub-machine gun, SKS, Chinese standard issues Type 95 bullpup assault rifle, SVD sniper rifles, etc.

They were obviously resistance fighters.

"Make sure to take their ammo," said a middle aged man who appeared to be the leader. He turned to face Mao.

"Good morning," greeted Mao in her best Korean, which had a strong Chinese accent.

"Morning," said the man. He looked at the Navy SEAL team before him, "Thank you for destroying that armored car, you saved some of my soldiers, but I wonder what Americans are doing here."

"You have a secure place we can talk?"

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**0410 Hours; September 25****th****, 2010; local resistance base of operations, South Gyeongsang Province; 79km west of Pusan, (Occupied) Republic of Korea**

"Welcome to our base Master Chief Mao," said Han Moo-Sae, a former school teach and current leader of a civilian militia trying to undermine the communist rule of his nation.

"This is Lee Yo-Hwan, he use to be a student at the technical and cyber-technology university in Taegu… before the communist invaded. Now he works as our computer hacker," said Moo-Sae indicating a young man with wire frame glasses.

"Hello," said Yo-Hwan in English. He was currently running a virus scan on his computer.

"Look, Mr. Yo-Hwan, we don't have much time," said Mao. "In less then an hour air operations will be begin."

Yo-Hwan looked up excitedly, "Is this the invasion to liberate our country?"

"Yes."

Yo-Hwan yelled something in Korean to the other 30 or so people in the room. They all started talking to each other excitedly.

"What do you need?" he asked eagerly.

"Can you get resistant fighters to help Japanese, American, German, and British LZs?"

"Where?" he asked.

"The Japanese 1st Airborne Division will land around Gimhae International Airport and the 2nd Japanese Airborne Division will land to over their west flank. The German's 6th Fallschirmjäger Division will land in the northern part of the city to secure the north flank. Our 17th Airborne Division will land in the east. At 0700 the Navy will open fire and the Japanese 6th Infantry Division, 1st Marine Division, and 7th Armor Division will land. So will the 11th Panzer Division, our 69th Infantry Division, and the Canadian 4th Infantry Division. A brigade from our 3rd Marine Division will land east of Pusan and drive north along the coast. We want the deep water port, can you get people to help?" asked Mao.

"Mmmm… a lot of Pusan depopulated after the NATO withdraw… but we should have a couple hundred of people still there willing to fight. Once the virus scan is done and I'm sure we haven't been hacked I'll contact them."

"Thanks, also see if people in Kusan are willing to help."

"Sure thing."

"Master Chief Mao," said Sagara.

"What is it Sousuke?"

"I contacted Perth 1 and the DDT (Duatha de Danaan) to tell them we've completed our objectives and have managed to make contact with the resistance," he reported in his monotone. "They say stay put until ordered otherwise. They'll contact us in 30 minutes."

"Very good Sousuke, now would you mind and get us coffee?"

"It's not a problem."

* * *

Well folks that was the first part of Operation: Republic's Typhoon. Part II will be coming soon. We will be following Sagano and probably Nara too in the NATO air operations. I didn't check this chapter that well for spelling so I'm sure there are a like of errors which I fix eventually.

Hope ya'll out bug out on me now that we get to the NATO invasion of Korea. See ya as soon as I write the next chapter… which could be a few days (sorry).

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. In previous chapters I have incorrectly referred to the air corps of China as the People's Liberation Air Force (PLAF). It should be called the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF or PLA Air Force). The ground forces should be called the People's Liberation Army Ground Forces (PLAGF or PLA Ground Forces). The naval forces should be called the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN or PLA Navy). The overall military is called the People's Liberation Army (PLA). There is also the Second Artillery Corps (SAC) which is China's strategic missile command (nuclear command); funnily enough, it has the same abbreviation as the American nuclear command, Strategic Air Command (SAC). There is also the People's Armed Police (PAP) which is a paramilitary law enforcement unit; they can be distinguished from regular Chinese police by their green uniforms instead of the normal police's dark grey or blue uniforms. I will make these corrections later on after I finish this story (thank you Ominae for bring this to my attention).

2. Chasu (Vice-Marshal) is a rank unique to North Korea with no US equivalent. In an early chapter I may have called Yong a general, but he should be a Vice-Marshal. Wonsu (Marshal) is the equivalent of General of the Army in the US Army. The rank Marshal is held by Kim Jong-Il himself.

3. Annapolis United States Navy Academy is the academy of the US Navy… as the name implies. It's located in Annapolis, Maryland. To the best of my knowledge, know one could graduate from Annapolis at her age.

4. Morse code is still used by modern militaries today. Since Morse code uses such a simple signal (only two different beeps) it doesn't need very complicated equipment and can send a single over a much greater distance. There is an international Morse code that any person can look up online and then classified ones that will vary with different militaries. Morse code can also be sent through a series of light flashes, but the navies only really use flash signals. There is also a semaphore flag communication, but that is only used by the navy (army and air force would only use it if all other communications are not an option).

5. First strike capability is the term used to refer to units meant for or is capable of firing nuclear weapons.

6. 9K310 Igla, also known as the SA-16 Gimlet, is a handheld SAM launcher the Soviet Union introduced in March 1st, 1981 to replace the 9K34 Strela-3 (SA-14 Gremlin). It is similar in appearance to their American counter-part the FIM-92 Stinger. Like the Stinger there is a duel mounted version. The Gimlet was replaced in the USSR in 1983 by the improved variation 9K38 Igla (SA-18 Grouse) which was less easily fooled by IR flares and jamming. North Korea uses the SA-16.

7. The ZPU-4 is a quadruple barrel anti-aircraft artillery piece. It fires a small 14.5mm (.57 caliber) with an effective range of 1.4km. It can fire 4,800 rounds per minute. It is employed by around 50 counties including Russia, China, and North Korea. In China it's called the Type 56 (not to be confused with Chinese version of the AK-47 which is known by the same name).

8. AZP S-60 57mm is an anti-aircraft artillery piece that is mounted like the ZPU-4 on a four wheeled tow cart. The standard version has only one barrel, but there is variation based on the AZP S-60 called the AZP S-68 that has two barrels. It has an effective range of 4km (6km if supported by radar), needs a crew of 7, and has a rate of fire of 105-120 rounds for minute.

9. The Type 55 is a Chinese production version of the Soviet BTR-40 armored car. It can carry 8 to 6 people plus the 2 man crew. It usually has a 7.62 light machine gun, but there are variations that put a ZPU-2 or ZPU-4 anti-aircraft guns. The BTR-40 is no longer used in Russia, but is still in service with about 21 countries including China, Iran, Cuba, Albania, Israel, and North Korea

10. Mikhail Kalashnikov is the designer of the Avtomat Kalashnikov 1947 which is commonly known by the abbreviation AK-47. Kalashnikovs is a way of referring to the guns he designed which include: AK-47, AKM, AK-74, RPK, and AK-10X series which includes the AK-101, AK-102, AK-103, AK-104, AK-105, AK-106, AK-107, and AK-108. Kalashnikovs tend to be the most common guns around the world. Many armies still use the obsolete AK-47, but upgrade to the superior AK-74M that is standardized by the Russian Army or the new some of the new AK-10X versions.


	40. Chapter 40: Op Republic's Typhoon Part 2

hI you're reading this then you haven't bugged out on me. Well we're here at another milestone, Chapter 40, oorah. I can't believe I wrote a story this fucking long. Not including this chapter my story is 173,004 words long. This chapter will start off with a bit of back and forth. A naval battle in the middle and then air combat. Also sorry about the long wait, but I've got to write a thesis or I don't graduate and I have to repeat the 12th grade and I would rather not repeat senior year with some of the idiots already in the grade below me.

Thank you my loyal readers. I have no idea who most of ya'll are, but I think there is somewhere between 30 and 40 people.

Thank you Seinaru, Smokey.Blade, asdf, Gin, and the anonymous guy.

A special thank you to Perrou, evelsaint93, and savageking for adding me to your favorites. Sinnerchrno for adding me to story alerts (what does that mean?). Ryuu Kazeno for adding my story to the Crystal Shards c2s.

Also a very special thank you to Ominae for helping me out with information on the Japanese and Chinese militaries. You rock dude.

I don't own any trademark or copywrite item out there, but how cool would it be to own something like the iPod… I could be rich -sigh-.

* * *

**Chapter 40: Operation: Republic's Typhoon**

**Part II: Reclaiming the Skies**

"Offense is the essence of air power"

General Henry H. Arnold, United States Army Air Force (was not called United States Air Force until 1947)

**0315 Hours; September 25th, 2010; Mess Hall, JFS Sutsuru (CVN-01); Strait of Korea, 52km southeast of Pusan**

The Japanese 2nd Escort Fleet and a detachment from the US 7th Fleet which included the USS George Washington and the battleship USS Missouri was sitting in Japanese waters with the invasion armada. They were only a couple of kilometers outside of Korea waters.

The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and USS Enterprise were heading to Kusan with the battleship USS New Jersey. The HMS Invincible was going to cover the fleet that would put a wedge between the PKAGF (1) and PLAGF with pilots flying from Tsushima (2) for additional air support.

The German aircraft carrier Prussian and the American carrier Harry S. Truman were to support the NATO soldiers landing on the southeastern coast.

Lieutenant JG Sagano Megumi was drinking coffee with her wingman Ensign Asakawa Sayaka.

"Eat up you two," said Lieutenant Tsuyoshi Yasuo a middle aged man who'd been in the air corps before he was picked for the Naval Air Force.

"Hai," they both say.

Petty Officer 1st Class Ikehi Yosho sat down next to Sagano. He was the Radar Interceptor Officer (RIO) on Sagano's Super Tomcat. His job was to monitor and track targets on the battlefield and serve as a navigator.

"Ohaiyo," he said. He was more awake than Sagano.

"Ohaiyo," groaned Sagano.

"Any last minute details Megumi?" asked Ikehi.

"Iē. Special forces did disable a lot of the radar and early warning systems so the commies won't see us coming until we're visually spotted," said Sagano.

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**0345 Hours; September 25th, 2010; The Bridge, JFS Sutsuru; Strait of Korea, 52km southeast of Pusan**

"Rear Admiral Byuten, at 0545 hours you need to move your battle group to Pusan with the amphibious assault ships, understand?" asked Vice Admiral Takeisawa Masato speaking to a woman on a one of the screens in front of him.

"Understood sir," responded the female rear admiral JG on the screen before terminating the transmission.

"Captain Hokai?" spoke up a short petite woman with dark brown hair tied in a bun under a cloth.

"Hai, Lieutenant JG Hinamori?" asked the captain swiveling in his chair to face her.

"Carp Squadron is being prepped on the flight deck. They'll be ready in 10 minutes. Urchin Squadron is fueled and will be ready to go in 8. Shark, Red Snake, and Eel Squadrons will be ready in 8 as well," she reported. The 1st Carrier-borne Naval Air Battalion would be launching first. The 2nd Carrier-borne Naval Air Battalion would launch next. Some of the AWACSs and ASWs were already airborne and flying around the fleet.

"Arigato Lieutenant, please tell the flight deck that the planes will launch in," he paused to check his pocket watch, "… to launch in 14 minutes."

"Aye Captain," said Hinamori walking to her workstation and picking up a ship phone. She pressed a button labeled 'Flight Deck' and waited for someone to answer.

"Mushi mush?" answered a young man's voice.

"Watari-kun, the captain wants the 1st Naval Fighter Squadron to launch in 14 minutes."

"Nope prob' Momo-chan, all planes are looking good and we'll have the first planes hooked up to the catapult in about 5 plus minutes."

"Arigato," said Hinamori before hanging up.

She walked over to the radar techs and leaned down by a couple of techs.

"What's the weather looking like?"

"Weather looks good Lieutenant. Some overcast, but low winds, no rain, mild temperature, and calm currents," said a Petty Officer 2nd Class handing Hinamori a clipboard with the conditions.

"Arigato, I'll take these to the captain. Please let me know if there are any changes," said she in her friendly voice.

"Aye ma'am," said the PO2.

"Uh, ma'am?" spoke up a sailor behind her.

"Hai?"

"Uh, I uh have the mail and… there's a letter for you," he said nervously handing it to her. It was from: Cpt. Hitsugaya Tōshirō; E Company, 27th Infantry Battalion. It was addressed to: Bed-Wetter Momo.

"…. ari… arigato seaman," said Lt. JG Hinamori who's face was turning redder than the sun on the Japanese Navy flag currently flying from atop the bridge. She placed the letter in an inside pocket of her navy tunic.

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**0420 Hours; September 25th, 2010; flight deck, JFS Sutsuru; Strait of Korea, 52km southwest of Pusan**

A descent size breeze was sweeping the flight deck. This was the result was what's called a heat convection current which creates air and ocean currents and not the result ofbad weather.

Sagano walked with Ikehi to their plane. The mechanics had their plane ready and would hook them up to the catapult after the first flight of fighters.

"Lieutenant!" called one of mechanics responsible for her plane.

"Hai?"

"This is for you and PO1 Ikehi," said the mechanic holding out two hachimakis. They were both long strips of white cloth with a single red circle in the middle of the hachimaki that represented the rising sun, like on their flag. Next to the suns on the headbands were kanji characters.

"Arigato gozaimasu," said Sagano bowing low and wrapping it around her helmet about where her forehead was (3). The mechanic returned the bow and went to make final preparations for sortie.

Sagano scaled the latter into the cockpit and Ikehi climbed into flight engineer's seat behind the pilot's seat.

They both pulled the canopies shut and waited.

"This is tower, 1st flight start your engines," ordered an NCO in the bridge.

Sagano watched as the 1st flight started up their engines and the turbines go from black to yellow to orange to red to blue to white. Suddenly they took off jumping from 0kt to 120tk in the time frame of about 2 seconds.

A ground crewman signaled her and Asakawa planes forward to the catapults that ran at an angle from to the tower and bridge. A panel was raised behind both planes to form a wall that engines could push off of. The deck crews attached both planes to their respective catapults. Like the Gerald Rudolph Ford Class (Ford Class) supercarrier, the Sutsuru Class made use of new electromagnetic catapult instead of the steam pressurized catapilts to launch planes. It propels a plane similar to that of a monorail and therefore generates less friction and could launch a plane with a greater speed or a heavier plane.

"2nd flight, this is tower, start your engines, over."

"Hai," said Sagano as she started up the twin turbines on her Super Tomcat. She checked the panel, all seemed to be working. She checked her HUD, nothing unusual. She checked the mirrors that would allow her to see planes coming up behind her (4), they were adjusted as well as she could hope them to be.

"Carp 2-3, start your afterburners," ordered the tower/bridge. Sagano opened her afterburners. "You're launching in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, green light."

Sagano grunted at the sudden jolt that crushed her in her seat. Over the crackle of radio she heard Ikehi make a similar grunt of discomfort. Who could blame them? Accelerating that much could render some people unconscious.

Then for a heart stopping moment she felt the plane drop and her stomach too. In less than a second the F-14D Super Tomcat claimed towards the stars.

"Carp 2-3, form up on me," ordered Lieutenant Tsuyoshi.

"Hai, Carp 2-3 is forming up on 2-1. Carp 2-4 follow me," said Sagano.

"Hai, ma'am," said Ensign Asakawa pulling in on Sagano's right.

Sagano gazed down on the 2nd Escort Fleet. It was dark. Ships had their interior lights off and flashing signal lights (5) off too. They were trying to avoid detection as much as possible. They circled around the fleet over the Washington, but not too close as to get in the way of US Navy F-14Ds (6) and F-18Es. They passed over the USS Missouri and USS Montana (7).

Sagano flew off with the land base planes flew towards Korea with other carrier squadrons.

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**0445 Hours; September 25th, 2010; Bridge, USS Montana (BB-67); Strait of Korea, 53km southeast of Pusan**

"Sir, the Washington and Sutsuru's planes are approaching the Korean coastline," said a com-officer.

"Very good petty officer," said Admiral Benson. Instead of sitting in his officer in Yokohama, Benson decided to take a more active role in the commanding the naval forces by personally overseeing them at the front. The USS Montana had been sitting in port at San Diego unattached to any fleet. Benson requested the Montana be sent to the 7th Fleet and now here he was on his flagship.

"Radar, make sure to activate all systems when we enter Korean waters and tell the gun crews to make sure all weapons are online," said Rear Admiral JG Michael Bae, commander of USS Montana. He was in Korean-American in his mid 40s with graying hair. His parents emigrated from Korea shortly after the war to Norfolk, Virginia where he was born. Bae grew up near the largest naval base on the Atlantic and since he was a boy dreamed of commanding a ship in the navy. He'd commanded a number of warships, but they were all decommissioned and he'd been cooped up in his home in San Francisco. A month ago he was received a phone call from Admiral Benson to command a battleship and naturally Bae had jumped on the chance.

"Aye, rear admiral!"

"Rear Admiral JG Bae, we received word from Captain Testarossa that most of the enemy's radar system are offline and they'll won't detect our approach," called one of the com-officers.

"Understood," said Bae, he turned to face his superior, "Admiral, I think it's time we ship off."

"I agree," said Benson nodding.

Bae turned to face his bridge crew who immediately looked at him, "Weight anchor! Set course for vector 040 (north by northwest)! Set speed for 30kt, battle speed people! Order escorts to do the same!"

"Aye, Rear Admiral Bae!" shouted the crew as they rushed to get the Montana to her final position, within 38km of Pusan which would be the range of her 16 inch Mk. 7 naval guns.

The USS Montana with her escort of two Ticonderoga Class cruisers, two Spruance Class destroyers, two Arleigh Burke Class destroyers, and eight Oliver Hazard Perry Class frigates, began to make their way towards Korea with the USS George Washington's escorts (8), the independent ships, and the amphibious assault ships.

They traveled until they were within 45km of Pusan.

"Sirs!" cried out a radar tech in panic.

"What?!" demanded Bae.

"Hostile warships and planes detected… they're PLAN and PKN!"

"Fuck," snarled Bae to himself, he angered that something went wrong so soon. "All hands general quarters!"

"… sir?" said an intelligence officer assigned to listening in on enemy communications.

"What?" said Rear Admiral JG Bae, sighing and wondering if he really wanted to know.

"They Chinese are sending frantic transmissions, but no one is responding."

Bae stared. It was too good to be true. The PLAN couldn't be so incompetent that they'd ignore such an important transmission. Realization struck him and he turned to face Admiral Benson, "ECM jammers?"

Admiral Benson smiled and nodded.

"Petty Officer Berle."

"Yes rear admiral?" asked the radar tech.

"Check for ECMs."

"Aye commander," she said turning in her seat. She typed on her keyboard and scanned the screen, "They are multiple devices floating on the surface, sir. Similar in type to a sonobuoy. Chinese and North Korean appear to be unable to communicate with anyone beyond a range of 8km. No source detected for the ECMs, sir."

Rear Admiral JG Bae began to piece together what was going on and said, "Chief Levine, please send my thanks to Captain Testarossa. Sir, do we engage?"

Benson weight the possibilities and quickly determined that the PLAN and PKN would not simply let a US fleet, a Japanese fleet, a small South Korean fleet, and assorted amphibious assault ships slip by in front of them.

"Washington group, hold position. Montana group, turn to screen the Washington," ordered Admiral Benson. "Inform all other warships of the presence of hostile ships."

"What's the range to enemy fleet?" asked Bae.

"28km and closing," a radar tech.

Bae mentally slapped himself for not bringing the long range sensors online sooner… not that that would change the present situation. "Wheel ship to port and order all main guns to load! If those bastards are dumb enough to get within range of the 5 inch guns, tell them there are clear to engage at will!"

"Aye, sir!"

Bae watched as a frigate and an Arleigh Burke Class destroyer scrambled to get clear. The Montana was completely exposed with no escorts shielding her. A woman was alerting that all deck crews were to seek shelter. Others were acquired targets.

The Mk. 5 didn't use a computerized range finder, no one had created a computerized range finder that was more accurate than the mechanical one that managed to compensate for the extreme conditions created by the Mk. 5. The guns created such force when fired that cause an indentation in the waters, could damage or even capsize ships too close, they would permanently deafen anyone one outside, shatter ordinary windows within several kilometers of the guns, and would send people flying off several yards to their deaths if they would standing on deck around the guns (9).

It was a very serious matter when firing the main guns.

4 turrets which meant 12 guns. 3 PKN corvettes, 2 PKN frigates, 4 PLAN frigates, and 1 PLAN destroyer was targeted.

"Sir, all stations have reported in, deck is clear!"

Bae walked over towards the port side window which, like on any warship, was made of a special plastic so it wouldn't shatter from explosions or in the US's case, so it wouldn't shatter when the main guns fired.

Bae stared at the smoke from the communist warship's exhaust towers. The Chinese ships were so easy to see because of this plus they had to come in close to fire.

He said calmly, "All hands brace yourselves, main guns 1-4 fire."

In the first second of the shot, there was no noise.

**KAPOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

The next few seconds was filled with a deafening blast. The ship listed towards its starport (right) side and everyone in her shook as if in an earthquake. The Montana actually sank several yards as the sea around her was indented deeply by the shear pressure of the blast. Some of the escorts were rattled too from the force of the 16 inch guns firing.

Bae was nearly wrenched from the pole he was had an armed wrapped around for support. He straightened himself quickly and tracked the course of the shells by the indentation they left in their wake. Suddenly 10 flumes of flames appeared on the horizon.

"Stand by for conformation…… enemy's first row of ships have been destroyed."

"Sir, incoming planes. They appeared to be MiG-29Ks. I'm also detecting a Kiev Class light carrier with two cruisers… the cruisers are firing missiles at the Washington," said a radar technician.

"Fire Phalanx and RAMs at the missiles. Use Sea Sparrows and Bofors on the incoming planes," ordered Bae.

The Phalanxes on the Montana and her escorts filled with millions of 20mm bullets ripping the barrage of anti-ship cruise missiles fired by the PLAN ships. RAM surface to air missiles added to the anti-missile screen. The sky lit up with the hundreds of thousands of red tracer rounds from the Phalanxes, the glares from SAMs, and missiles being destroyed in the air.

A single squadron of MiG-29Ks approached the 7th Fleet. A Kiev Class was originally designed for VSTOL planes and helicopters and couldn't hold many planes due to its small size. Bae knew he didn't necessarily hit the planes because being so few in numbers they'd scatter and break off their attack runs.

As he expected the Sea Sparrow missiles and Bofor 40mm anti-air shells forced the Fulcrums to break off. He also saw that a few shots made contact with the Fulcrums and destroyed them.

"Sir, the enemy has entered the range of our Mk. 25 guns, we're opening fire!" said gunman in one of the port side 5 inch turrets.

The five turrets on the port side of the Montana blasted away with the cruisers and destroyers.

Bae watched as the enemy disappeared from the radar screen as they were destroyed by cruise missiles, 5 inch and 16 inch gun fire, a couple of torpedoes from two Los Angeles Class attack subs that were assigned to escort duty (10).

"Main guns ready, sir!"

"All personal brace yourselves! Main guns 1 and 2 target the Kiev Class light carrier. Main guns 3 and 4 target the enemy cruisers! Fire when ready!"

"Mike," said Admiral Benson.

"Sir?"

"We cannot allow the enemy to escape nor hold us up much longer," said Benson knowing both could seriously threaten the invasion.

"I don't intend to allow either," said Bae. Secured himself around the post he was holfing on to and said, "main guns fire!"

**KAPOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

Bae held on to the post with both arms to remain standing. Some of the bridge crew had fallen out of their seats. He saw fire erupt from communist ships.

"Enemy carrier and cruisers are sinking!"

A cheer went up from the 7th Fleet.

"Sweep up the remaining ships, none must escape," barked Bae.

"Aye sir!"

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**0500 Hours; September 25th, 2010; 7,700m above sea level, Pusan; South Gyeongsang Province, (occupied) Republic of Korea**

"AWACS, what's the status on the fleet?" asked Carp Squadron leader.

"The American 7th Fleet's flagship Montana is engaging the communist fleet. They report sinking multiple ships with no loses."

"Do we need to RTC (return to carrier)?"

"Negative. Continue with mission, we've come too far now."

"Hai."

Most of Pusan was dark so unknown reasons. Either the North Koreans didn't want NATO planes to easily find Pusan using the old blackout strategy or they were using the electricity for military purposes or were they were transferring power northwards to North Korea. Whatever the cause, they were using nightvision on their HUDs to better see the ground.

They dropped their tanks and dived low to avoid triple-A threats (anti-air artillery).

"Remember, do not under any circumstances are you to bomb the Gimhae Internation Airport's runways. We need them. Also try to avoid bombing the bridges over the Nakdong-gang (Nakdong River)."

"Hai," responded various flight leads.

"Two PKANF Najin Class frigates are screening to port," reported Carp 5-2.

"Shark Squadron; Flight 4, your group has torpedoes, sink them," ordered the AWACS.

"Hai, we're engaging," said Shark 4-1.

Four F-18E Super Hornets, two of them carrying torpedoes, turned to engage the frigates. Sagano and Asakawa trailed the Super Hornets to cover them from any PKAF fighters.

The Najin Class frigates opened fire with their two ZU-57 AA guns. Super Hornets dropped four large cylindrical objects, about the same size as a Harpoon cruise missile, which each released a parachute. The cylinders slowed down to the proper speed and a couple yards above the surface split in half each releasing the torpedo inside. The propulsion system activated along with the homing system.

**BOOM!!!**

Explosions went off in mid-ship of the frigates and they started to list. They were far enough out that they wouldn't block off any of the docks or areas where landing craft would hit the shore.

"Farmers! Coming in from the west!"

"Carp Squadron engage, Urchin Squadron take over escort duty," ordered the AWACS.

Sagano turned to follow Lieutenant Tsuyoshi. She felt her hands tremble a little. She'd been under fire when she flew attack choppers for the Navy, but she'd never actually dogfight in real combat. Her HUD revealed a swarm of PKAF MiG-19 Farmers. Sagano and all the navy's new carrier pilots had gone through extensive training in classrooms, simulators, and mock battles all done with veteran American pilots.

"Carp 2-4, what do you remember about the Farmer?" asked Sagano.

"Ma'am, it's a Soviet 2nd generation fighter plane. Archaic by modern standards. It doesn't have hydraulic controls and has crude guidance systems… if any."

"Sounds like they won't be too hard for a first fight," said Sagano hopefully.

A tone pulsed as Sagano's F-14D began to acquire a Farmer. She fired an AIM-7 Sidewinder at one Farmer in the middle of the group. The Farmers being such old aircraft didn't have warning systems to alert them to incoming missiles. The Sidewinder smashed into the wing of the Farmer and sent it into roll towards the ground.

The Farmers and Super Tomcats closed distance to gun range. Sagano pulled the trigger on her stick to fire a volley of 20mm rounds from her M61 gatling gun. She grinned when she saw flames explode from a second Farmer.

**BAM! CRACK!**

Sagano felt her heart stop from the bangs of metal on metal as 30mm rounds sprayed her plane. She rolled to the side and looked back at the Farmer which had attacked her.

Three MiG-19 Farmers jinked hard to line her up. She checked her mirrors and saw to her relief Asakawa zooming in to cover her.

"Fox-Two, Fox-Two," cried Asakawa two Sidewinders flew off their hardpoints. The trailing Farmer cart-wheeled in midair as its tail was blown off by the first Sidewinder. The second missile prematurely detonated by the lead Farmer, but shrapnel damaged the tail fin which forced the pilot to bail out.

The third Farmer rolled back-and-forth to keep Asakawa from locking on to him while simultaneously firing bursts from his three NR-30 auto-cannons.

"I can't get him, ma'am," said Asakawa. "Not without hitting you."

"I break and give you a clear shot… don't miss."

"Hai," said Asakawa in her monotone that Sagano found highly reassuring at this moment.

Sagano took a deep breath, looked back as Ikehi who gave her the thumbs-up, and then jinked as hard right as Sagano could do with destroying the fighter from the stress of a high G turn or blacking out for the same reason. She saw orange and red light from the corner of her eye. Looking towards the distance sea where the fleet was, Sagano thought she could see flames.

"Ikehi, what's going on with the fleet?"

"I don't know, it's all in English," said Ikehi. "They're saying things like 'main guns fire', whatever that means."

Sagano frowned. She and most of her class never paid much attention to Tani-sensei's English class. Only the British-Japanese classmate Sawachika Eri seemed to speak English, but Sagano suspected Takano Akira also spoke the language. Unfortunately, Takano was somewhere with the special forces and Sawachika was technically not a full citizen of Japan which precluded her from the military.

"Heads up, MiG-29 Fulcrum-As closing in from Gimhae," reported the AWACS. "Altitude: 4,000m. Speed: 700kt. Course heading: 220."

Ikehi relayed the message to Sagano who went cold. The Fulcrum was a 4th generation Soviet plane. It was a much higher performance plane and mainstay fighter of the Red Air Force with the Su-27 Flanker. It was designed to combat 4th generation American planes such as the one Sagano was currently flying. The KPAF also only allowed their best pilots to fly the MiG-29.

Carp Squadron turned and climbed to meet the 24 MiG-29 Fulcrums. Sagano fired two of her AIM-120 Phoenix missiles at the Fulcrums. One hit, the other evaded and fired a Vympel R-27 (or AA-10 Alamo) at her. Sagano and Asakawa used a thatch weave to confuse the missile with their criss-crossing patterns.

Sagano dived to avoid a stream of 30mm fired from a flight of Fulcrums. Super Tomcats and Fulcrums tore at each other as they circled and dived in high speed air combat. What was becoming increasingly obvious was the difference in experience. The Japanese pilots were better trained, but the North Korean pilots were clearly veterans.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck," Sagano said over and over as she kept trying to lock onto a Fulcrum, but forced to break off by another MiG.

Sagano and Awakawa curved off towards the sea in hopes of catching Fulcrums as their pulled out of the fray before going back in. A Fulcrum however had outsmarted her and had them both in his sighs.

'I'm… going… to die?" thought Sagano numbly.

She knew she was in gun range and that the pilot about just flexing his finger to pull the trigger…

**BOOM!**

The MiG shattered in front of Sagano. Instinctively, both Sagano and Asakawa swerved to avoid colliding with the destroyed Fulcrum.

"White Fox 2-4, splash-one," said a vaguely familiar voice.

"Nice shot 2-4, all White Fox callsigns tally oh on them bandits," ordered what must be the squadron leader.

24 F-15J Eagles dived down from the moon, which was bright enough to conceal their approach. They spread out like they were forming a cone and pulled out of their dives into the KPAF fighters.

"Hurry up, the 6th Air Transport Brigade is entering Korean airspace," yelled one of the White Fox squadron members.

"Understood 2-1, what's their ETA?" asked a woman.

"ETA is… T minus 5 minutes and 20 seconds," said White Fox 2-1.

"Shit, that doesn't leave us much time," said the woman.

"Why aren't the triple-As opening up?" asked White Fox 2-4 suspiciously. Sagano knew she knew that voice, but she couldn't place it.

"Unknown," stated White Fox leader. "Carp Squadron, what's the status on the enemy's triple-As?"

"Enemy's SAMs have been shooting on the west end of the port, but we've disabled they haven't been problematic. Some ZPU-4s, AZP S-60s, and ZU-23s have been firing at the other squadron that are attacking the KPAGF," said Carp Squadron leader. "They haven't mobilized their AA-vehicles for unknown reasons."

"Where are they?"

"Shark and Eel Squadrons have spotted them, but they don't seem to have crews manning them."

"Uh, guys?" said White Fox 2-4. "ETA on the 6th Air Transport Brigade is 4 minutes and counting."

"Fuck. Arigato Lt. Nara."

'Nara… why is that name so familiar?' wondered Sagano. She had a dim image of a slightly awkward blue haired blue eyed boy.

"Megumi," called Ikehi. "Lieutenant Hinamori just sent out an APB (all points bulletin), USS Montana and USS George Washington and their respective escorts completely destroyed the enemy fleet. 1st and 2nd Airborne Divisions are inbound. The invasion is so far underway with only minor hitches."

"This is Kazeuma Leader, who's the AWACS is the picture clear?"

"Negative enemy planes are still a factor. Hostile warships are clears and enemy AAs seems to be strangely inactive."

"Well planes or no planes I got paratroopers and a schedule to keep. Fighters keep us covered we're going in, Kazeuma Leader out."

Sagano Megumi stared in awe of the 201st Fighter Squadron and their highly veteran pilots. She felt a tinge of envy, especially for the pilot of plane number 057 who they called White Fox 2-4. He seemed to be able to out do all the PKAF pilots before they could act. He made over 13 red stars outlined in yellow marking every PLAAF plane he'd shot down and another 16 PKAF red stars with a red, white, and blue rings marking every PKAF plane shot down. She trembled a little being in the presence of an ace.

He roared off with his wing leader into the night's sky for the brigade of Kawasaki C-3s and C-130 Hercules.

"Oi, Sagano-san," called White Fox 2-4. "These are our skies now. Don't let the enemy take them back. Ganbatte (11)."

"… how the fuck he'd know my name?" wondered Sagano.

"More Farmers detected. They heading for the transports!"

"Shit, intercept them!"

All of Carp Squadron hit full afterburners and streaked across the dark sky to bright orange and red flames from jet turbines. Sagano's HUD displayed several green squares marked 'MiG-19'.

Sagano got a good tone and fired her last two AIM-120s. She saw two Farmers explode and a third get catch in the explosion of first Farmer. She fired her last Sidewinders which damage two planes, destroyed one, and one trashed missile.

The Farmers scattered a little, but still maintained their general course. True North Korean soldiers, fighting to a suicidal end.

Sagano closed the distance very quickly with Asakawa right behind her. Without their missiles they were going to get in close enough to use their M61s.

"Guns!"

Sagano watch a MiG burst into flame.

They had swept up most of the Farmers. She looked down and saw she need to return to rearm and refuel. Looking up at the sky Sagano's jaw dropped at the number of C-130s, C-3s, C-17s, and C.160s that shored through the darkness towards Korea.

The airborne landings were beginning.

* * *

Okay, this chapter will probably have some errors (likely several errors). I'll look at it later and make corrections. My plan is to do a serious overhaul after this story is complete in which I try to hammer out the flaws and misspellings. 

Coming next, Chapter 41: Operation: Republic's Typhoon Part III; A Rendezvous with Destiny. PFC Kuchiki Rukia of the 2nd Parachute Infantry Battalion, 3rd Airborne Regiment; 1st Airborne Brigade, 1st Airborne Division. See through the purple eyes of the heroin of the anime Bleach in my story as she leaps into history with nothing, but her gear, her gun, and a parachute. Will she survive? Don't look at me, I'm still writing the next chapter.

Appendix

1. Like the error I made in naming the PLA, the North Korean land forces should be called the Korean People's Army Ground Forces (PKAGF or PKA Ground Forces). The naval forces should be called the Korean People's Army Naval Forces (KPANF or KPA Naval Forces), but Korean People's Navy (PKN) is an acceptable name too. I was right that the air corps is called the Korean People's Air Force (PKAF). The overall armed forces are called the Korean People's Army (PKA).

2. Tsushima (Tsu Island) is two Japanese islands treated as one island in the middle of the Strait of Korea only a few kilometers outside of the Republic of Korea. Due to its close proximity to South Korea and that is was part of Korea until Japan invaded the island in 1419 and seized it in 1420, the South Korean government claims that Tsushima is part of the RoK. The population is had Buddhist and a large Shinto population like Japan and mostly people in Tsushima are ethnically Japanese. Tsushima is part of the Nagasaki Prefecture. The northern island is called Kamino-shima and the south island is called Shimono-shima.

3. The hachimaki is a headband the Japanese would often wear in battle, celebrations, or just when people need a good luck charm. They would pretty much always have the rising sun on them that would be centered on the forehead and have writing on either side of the sun that would have inspirational slogans. They would NEVER write on the rising sun because it is considered sacred.

4. Planes, especially fighter planes, have rearview mirrors. Just like a car's rearview mirror it allows a pilot to check for planes trying to sneak up on him or her. The F-14 Tomcat has three mirrors for the pilot and one for the RIO (radar interceptor officer).

5. By international law, ships and airplanes are supposed to have flashing signal lights to show their location. A plane or ship failing to do so could be considered a hostile plane or ship and could be fired upon if entering a foreign nation's territory. Only military ships and planes during wartime or while conducting combat operations can have their lights off.

6. It should be noted that the Northrop-Grumman F-14 Tomcat series are no longer active service with the US Navy. The Tomcats were strictly a navy plane and never served with the USAF, USMC, or US Army. The Tomcats included the F-14A Tomcat, F-14B Tomcat (sometimes called the Bombcat), and the F-14D Super Tomcat. Strangely enough, the only foreign nation to buy the Tomcats is the Islamic Republic of Iran.

7. Not only is the USS Missouri (BB-63) not in service, but no Iowa Class battleship or any battleship are in service with any military. The USS Montana (BB-67), a Montana Class battleship, or any Montana Class was never completed. The Montana class was the last authorized battleship class in the US Navy. It was much larger than its predecessor that Iowa Class with two sets of three 16 inch guns on the front and two more three 16 inch guns in the rear with five sets of twin 5 inch guns on the port side and five more on the star port side. Aside from an addition set of guns to the rear, it looked like the Iowa Class.

8. Primarily, US warships base their fleets around the aircraft carriers. The main job of any ship in our navy is to protect the carriers. Some ships are assigned to defend transport ships, auxiliary ships, supply ships, amphibious assault ships, intelligence/electronic warfare ships, and minesweepers. Some ships are assigned to recon pickets and patrol duties (usually frigates) or general tasks that don't involve bring an entire carrier battlegroup into action (which is expensive and time consuming).

9. My bestfriend, who we will call Jason (not his real name), is kinda' an expert on the US Navy. He's explained to me in detail about the power of the Mk. 5 16 inch naval gun. I've written out as much as I can remember. Only battleships used the Mk. 5. The Mk. 45 5 inch gun is the mainstay naval gun of US, Japanses, Danish, South Korean, Greek, Turkish navies.

10. In any carrier fleet, there are always submarines to provide support. There provide cruise missiles, torpedoes, and in the worse case scenario nuclear missiles and ICBMs. They can also serve as an unseen scout for the carrier group.

11. Ganbatte is a Japanese word of encouragement that various with context. It best translates as 'good luck' or 'do your best'.


	41. Chapter 41: Op Republic's Typhoon Part 3

This chapter will put me over 180,000 words. I'm a huge fan of Band of Brothers and I wanted to do a chapter with an airborne drop. Some of you may remember that Kuchiki Rukia in my story is a paratrooper. Care to guess who will be the main focus of this chapter? I hope so, otherwise you didn't read the end notes at the end of the last chapter.

Thank you ahgwa for your many reviews. I was surprised you read all my posted chapters so quickly, but happy you read it all through.

**In response to Perrou's last review**: I think Perrou's concerns are a valid and warrant a response to all my readers. I have already sent Perrou a private response, but I think I owe the rest of ya'll an answer. It is true that my story does appear to be practicable… but that's what I wanted ya'll to think. I'm guessing most of you have forgotten the Russian deserters from about 20 or 30 chapters back (not that I blame you), but I had hoped ya'll had picked up on the foreshadowing in the last chapter.

I'm going to have all hell break lose to ya'll and me for the sequel. I had planned on doing a trilogy actually so don't get bent out of shape if the plot or all the conflicts get solved at the end of this story because they'll be more.

This chapter probably has errors, but I'll take care of that later. Unless there are really bad mistakes and misspellings in which case I'll fix it as soon as possible.

I don't own any trademarked or copywrite item. Please review and/or tell a friend.

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**Chapter 41: Operation: Republic's Typhoon**

**Part III: Rendezvous with Destiny**

"The 101st Airborne Division, activated at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, has no history

But it has a rendezvous with destiny."

Major General William C. Lee the father of the US Airborne. Less than two years later the 101st entered its first battle, the Invasion of Normandy June 6th, 1944.

**0100 Hours; September 25****th****, 2010; Shinomoseki Air Force Base, 6km north of Shinomoseki; Yamaguchi Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

"Ow," groaned a petite vertically challenge female as she fall out of her cot.

Private 1st Class Kuchiki Rukia rubbed her nose to sooth the pain. She had tried to get out of bed, but fell face first. She got up and looked around the barrack. None of the men or women in the room had woken up; they weren't required to be up until 0145 Hours, but Kuchiki wanted to get to the shower before all the hot water was gone.

She grabbed a stack of clothes out of her footlocker and exited the barrack to the cool night air.

Kuchiki walked until she reached the shower building. She walked into the women's locker-rooms. She placed one locker. She than removed the jacket, white cotton shirt, white socks, black boots, and olive drab pants. She then pulled the unflattering, but practical military issued grey sports bra over her head and stripped off military issue grey granny panties. Now completely naked, Kuchiki walked sleepily to the shower area. She turned on one of the shower units to a tolerable temperature.

Kuchiki sighed with a mixture of pleasure from the warm water and nerves from her the prospects of her third and most dangerous drop.

Kuchiki Rukia was in 7th squad, 3rd platoon; Indigo Company, 4th Parachute Infantry Battalion; 2nd Airborne Regiment, 1st Airborne Brigade of the 1st Airborne Division. She'd been in the airborne assault on the Japanese island of Shikoku, the invasion of Oita of Kyushu and later pushed onto Kitakyushu, and finally she was going to jump out of a plane over a foreign nation.

"I wonder what Ichigo is doing?" said Kuchiki to herself. She envisioned her boyfriend at see still asleep and she profoundly envied him for that.

Kuchiki reached for one of three wall mounted dispensers. He pressed the lever and filled her hand with liquid soap. She scrubbed her body working her way from her arms to her body down her legs and then her face. The soap was a fairly strong base meant to kill bacteria and disinfect soldiers coming off the battlefield, it was not meant for conform and it burned. The shampoo dispensed from the second dispenser also burned, but on the bright side Kuchiki probably was clean enough to eat off of… not that a normal person would.

Kuchiki than pressed the lever of the third dispenser with sort of shaving cream. Using one of the cheap disposable razor blades available to both the men and women personal, Kuchiki proceed to shave her legs and armpits.

After enjoying the hot water of a little while longer, Kuchiki walked back to the locker-room. She stepping into fresh pair of military issued panties identical to the first pair and pulled on a fresh sports bra. She pulled on the olive drab pants with the leopard style camouflage and a whitish-drab T-shirt and tucked it into her pants. She walked over to the sinks and proceeded to brush and floss her teeth. After completing general hygiene routines, Kuchiki pulled on tunic, pulled on her jacket leaving it open, pull on socks and boots, and walked to the mess hall.

Clean as she knew she would be for a while, PFC Kuchiki ate breakfast. The military's provided a decent breakfast with real meat… never good sign. The military only gave out good food when soldiers were about to enter a huge battle as if it were to be their last meal.

As she ate she stared a ceiling mounted TV which was playing the news.

"… and that is how you can cut down on your energy cost," said some reporter finishing a report.

"In sports news…"

Kuchiki ignored the report on the winners of the Japanese national baseball league and national football (soccer) league. She stared vaguely at the winner of the nation ping-pong league (1) though.

"And now for national news. The Nikkei Index rose 10 points yesterday. The Diet is reasonability hopeful that this is a sign the national stock exchange is recovering from years of falling. Yesterdays a US Marine was accused of raping a 15 year old girl. The United States Pentagon has ordered all US Military personal is to be confined to bases when off duty. The Marine is currently in police custody. Public protests state that foreign nations need to keep a closer watch on the actions of their soldiers. Complaints continue to mount against the US Marine Corps, French Foreign Legion, and the Albanian Expeditionary Force."

Kuchiki took a sip of coffee. She wasn't fond of the US Marines. They were loud and rowdy and seemed to have little in the way of respect for Japanese culture or people. Certainly, the USMC was not well liked in Okinawa (2).

"In world news reports of violence breaking out in the southern provinces of western Russian are emerging. Further information is currently unavailable.

Croatia and Slovenia have both been assimilated into the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Currently only one of the original republics of the first Yugoslavia remains independent. The Republic of Kosovo, only independent state of Yugoslavia which declared impendence from Serbia on February 12th, 2008 and joined NATO on September 2nd, 2010, is currently requesting additional NATO soldiers be deployed to defend their nation from an expected Yugoslavian attack."

A soldier seated herself next to Kuchiki. She was taller than Kuchiki, but had shorter spikier hair.

"Ohaiyo Tatsuki," said Kuchiki.

"Ohaiyo Rukia," said Pvt. Arisawa Tatsuki. Arisawa plowed through her food at lightening speed compared to Kuchiki's dainty manner.

Arisawa and Kuchiki returned to their barrack where they checked over their gear. Like most airborne corps, the Japanese paratroopers received higher quality and more specialized equipment than the regular infantry. They had pants and jackets with larger pockets to store odds and ends. They had larger pouches for ammunition since they would have to carry all their ammo into the field.

Kuchiki unbuttoned her tunic and took it off. She pulled on a bulletproof vest, tightened the straps, and than put her tunic back on over the vest. She strapped a knife in its sheath to her right ankle. She pulled on a hostler with a strap that went diagonally across her body. Paratroopers did not wear hostlers at the hip because they land on the ground and allow themselves to their side to keep from getting injured so if they wore a hip mounted holster they could break their hips. She checked the H&K USP .45, loaded it, and slid it in her holster.

Next she started stuffing her shirt pockets and ammo pockets on her utility belt. She strapped bayonet to her left arm just above the elbow and slip a small switch blade into a pocket on the right sleeve. The switch blade was specially made to cut parachutes incase they got stuck in a tree or something and had to cut themselves free.

Kuchiki picked up a long length of coiled rope and attached it to her pack incase she needed to lower herself down from tree or the roof of a building.

She out on her helmet which had a netting over it and straps of dark green burlap to give it a camouflage look.

Finally Kuchiki picked up a Colt M4A1 carbine with handle grip, laser pointer, and x3 zoom laser dot scope. She popped in a 30 round banana clip of 5.52x45mm armor piercing cartridges. She had her clips so that she could load her gun and when the clip was depleted she could flip it over and load a fresh one.

"Ready?" asked Arisawa picking up her M4A1.

"Hai," said Kuchiki standing up.

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**0315 Hours; September 25****th****, 2010; Shinomoseki Air Force Base, 6km north of Shinomoseki; Yamaguchi Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

Japanese paratroopers were marching towards C-3s and C-130s lined up along the taxiway.

The ramps on the rears of the planes were down and companies were filing in.

"3rd platoon hurry up!" yelled 2nd Lt. Otsuka Mai. Lt. Otsuka was roughly the same age as Kuchiki and Arisawa with greenish hair. She used to keep it in a long braided pony tail, but now kept it in a bun under her helmet. She was wielding a Towa Type 89 assault rifle, but with a side folding stock.

All the paratroopers had their primary weapons strapped to the fronts of their bodies so they wouldn't fall off during the drop (3). It stood to reason that losing your gear when the chute opens would royally fuck over any paratrooper.

3rd platoon walked up the ramp into a Lockheed-Martin C-130H Hercules. The C-130H was an upgraded version of the original C-130As and C-130Es that was introduced in 1964 and ended production in 1996. 64 fully armed paratroopers could be loaded into one C-130.

One platoon, or 48 soldiers plus one platoon leader, were being loaded into each plane. It was not considered wise to load a plane to full capacity and risk them being blown out of the sky.

The larger C-3s were being loaded with HMMWVs and Type 89 IFVs. Dropping a vehicle from the air was a risking and dangerous form of airborne warfare pioneered by the Soviets with the BMD armored personal carriers. Heavy tanks like the M1A2 Abram, Challenger 2, Leopard 2A6, T-90, Type 90, Type 99, K1 (4), or Leclerc cannot be deployed via parachute. Nor could medium tanks like the M60A5.

Light tanks, APCs, IFVs, jeeps, HMMWVs, and armored cars however could be dropped using specialized parachutes, but it was still a risky operation. The Japanese Airborne Armored Corps was very new, only about three months old in fact. They'd only been in one operation and that was Operation: Kamikaze. To make a long story short the airborne drop was a fiasco. Some of the armor hit the ground too hard and were immobilized on impact, many miss their drop zones, some landed in rice fields and were stranded in the mud, a couple vehicles chutes failed and left their crews to tumble to their deaths, and most were overrun by more heavily armed Chinese heavy tanks.

JAAC were better trained this time around, but the few survivors of their first operation were already making funeral arrangements.

Kuchiki sat down on the bench with the rest of 3rd platoon. She was stuffed between Arisawa and a large man in 8th squad with an FN Minimi.

A flight engineer entered the cargo hold to a small control panel next to the ramp. He pressed a button and a hydraulic system whined as it closed the ramp. With the plane closed and pressurized for a high altitude flight the turboprop engines sprang to life.

Kuchiki thought back to her first jump over Shikoku. She remembered the confidence. They were laughing and joking around. They left like they could take on the world.

Now it was deafly silent. They could hear every creek, squeak, rattle, and rumble the planes made as they moved down the taxiway to the runway.

'Will we be alive this time tomorrow?' wondered Kuchiki.

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**0505 Hours; September 25****th****, 2010; 300m, Pusan; South Gyeongsang Province, (occupied) Republic of Korea**

The 6th Air Transport Brigade was deciding to 150m where the paratroopers would jump from.

The red light came on and the flight engineer yelled over the roar of the engines the final instructions, "Get ready!"

Everyone raised the metal clips they would attach to the static-line.

"Stand up!"

Everyone stood up and lined up into three rows of sixteen.

"Hook up!"

Everyone hooked up their ripcords to the static-line.

"Equipment check! Sound off when ready!"

Everyone did a pat down of the person in front of them. They tugged on the straps to make sure they were secure. They then knocked on the helmet of the person in front of them to let them know they were ready.

"9-16 okay!" shouted a man in the rear right of the plane.

"9-15 okay!" shouted a woman in front of him.

It went on in numerical order.

"7-8 okay!" shouted Arisawa when it was her turn.

"7-7 okay!" shouted Kuchiki.

"7-6 okay!"

"7-5 okay!"

"7-4 okay!"

"7-3 okay!"

"7-2 okay!"

"7-1 okay!" shouted Lt. Otsuka.

The flight engineer opened the ramp and they saw the dark outlines of buildings that made up the metropolis of Pusan. Green tracer rounds rose up into the air to meet them, but it was nothing compared to their previous jumps. In fact the absence of AA fire was not just low, it was practically non-existent.

'This is a vital city to both sides… where is the enemy?' wondered Lt. Otsuka as she gazed down at the city.

The green light came on and the flight engineer yelled, "GO!"

Kuchiki watched as the people in front of her jumped one by one. Then it was her turn. Few a fraction of a second she stared at the ground. She gathered her strength.

She was now in the air. She felt the ripcord pull tight and then pull out the pilot chute which was the small parachute that would help the main parachute to unfurl quickly.

She felt her whole body jerked violently in the opposite direction of her free-fall. The human body without a parachute would have a terminal velocity of roughly 150 km/h. The parachute reduced it to a survivable 15 km/h.

Kuchiki clung to the guide cords that would allow her to have some control over her descent. She tugged and pulled at the left and right cords to get her somewhere near the DZ.

The roar of the turboprops were getting farther and the ground getting closer.

Kuchiki hit the ground and allowed her legs to buckle a little and fall to her side to minimize the force of the impact. She stood up and quickly rolled up her parachute so it wouldn't drag her across the field she landed in.

Some of her platoon was already done folding their chutes and stuffing them haphazardly into the packs they came in. They abandoned their chutes and gathered around their company CO. They were also quick to move to avoid vehicles and light armor from landing on top of them.

"What's the damage?" asked Colonel Ikari commander of the 2nd Airborne Brigade.

"Minimal sir, no one killed for once and only a few vehicles were lost. One of our Type 87 APCs landed in the Nakdong River, but the crew got out of the APC before it sank. Three of our HMMWVs got trashed and we can't find one of the Type 93 mobile SAMs," reported Lt. Colonel Nakanishi.

"Mmmm… that's much better than usual… in fact this is the first time we haven't lost a fourth of our vehicles."

"5th Battalion is coming in sir," said Lt. Otsuka pointing to the second group of planes of the 6th Air Transport Brigade.

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**0542 Hours; September 25****th****, 2010; 190m south of Gimhae International Airport, Pusan; South Gyeongsang Province, (occupied) Republic of Korea**

3rd Platoon has creeping downhill through the fields that led up to a highway which ran past the south end of one of the runways. They were keeping low to avoid detection.

7th squad was covering a group of engineers who were sweeping for mines. Two sniper teams set up in the tall grass which gave them a nice view for observing the airport.

On the other side of the hill were a group of APCs, HMMWVs, IFVs, and a mortar company waiting.

"Clear," whispered a lead engineer into his radio.

"G, H, and I Companies, advance for the radar and com antennas and hangers. All others move for the terminal. Good luck."

Lt. Otsuka waved her hand forward and led her platoon to the fence that kept trespassers out. A soldier pulled out a pair of wire cutters and cut down a large section of the fence for 2nd platoon.

"All units be advised, there are three T-54s sitting just off the main taxiway," warned a sniper.

"Rodger mark it for the mortars and -crack- shit, sniper!"

A North Korean sharpshooter had spotted 2nd platoon coming in. A siren blared and floodlights shone. Someone started shouting in Korean over the PA system.

"Open fired!" screamed Otsuka as an MG nest started spraying 7.62x54mm rounds at them catching her platoon completely exposed. At least 5 soldiers were killed instantly and several others wounded.

Kuchiki fired a 3-round burst at the MG nest sitting on one of the hangers. It went silent for a second and then fired a burst at her. Kuchiki slammed her face into the ground and shielded the back of her head with her hands. When the gunner's attention was drawn else where Kuchiki took careful aim at slot in the sandbag bunker where the gunner was. By the light of muzzle flash she could she his outline. Kuchiki fired a single shot and saw the gunner fall over after being hit.

An explosion went off in the middle of H Company. One of the T-54s was advancing down the runway. It lined up its 100mm gun with H Company and fired again. H Company was scattering for cover. G Company was crawling through the ditch between the taxiway and runway trying to get close enough to use an AT4 or something.

The T-54 suddenly was hit by a TOW missile from one of the Type 89 IFVs now advancing onto the airport.

Indigo Company rallied around the Type 89s and HMMWVs and used them as a moving shield. Sharpshooters armed with SVD Dragunovs fired at the company pushing for the main terminal. Japanese snipers watched for the muzzle flashes and then fired at the PKA shooters.

PKA soldiers dived into shallow trenches carved into the tarmac. They set up a large .50 caliber heavy machine gun while soldiers armed with AK-47s and RPDs emptied their clips on the Japanese paratroopers.

"Why is it that every time we're fighting, it's always in the fucking open!" yelled a soldier to Arisawa who merely shrugged as she flipped the clip over the two clips she taped together to the fresh one.

The Type 89s swept the trenches with their 35mm auto-cannons and 7.62x51mm MGs.

"Frag out!" shouted someone.

Kuchiki yanked an M67 off her tac-vest, pulled the pin, released the spoon, and chucked the grenade into the trench. She saw a hand toss it out of the trench where it exploded in midair. Kuchiki pulled a second grenade, pulled the pin, released the spoon, and let the grenade to cook for a two seconds (5). She tossed it with all her might. It exploded just above the trench pelting the PKA soldiers with shrapnel.

**BANG!**

Kuchiki screamed with pain as grenade exploded behind her knocking her out from behind the HMMWV she was hiding behind. A North Korean grenade had exploded behind her. She felt blood trickle out from her back, but she knew it wasn't bad. It was mostly shock and she could fight. The problem was that if she moved she'd be cut to shreds by PKA riflemen and machine gunners.

'Just play dead, just play dead,' she thought desperately as bullets zinged over her head.

Someone stepped over her started firing next to her. She crawled towards a Type 89 IFV and sat up straight behind it.

"Can you check my back!" she yelled over the shooting to another soldier. She removed her jacket and the soldier lifted her tunic. He ran a hand across her vest and examine a couple of holes.

"You got three holes!" he yelled. "It's not deep. I think can get it out!"

"Do it!"

The soldier pulled out his bayonet and ran his lighter over it to sterilize it a little. It slowly put the tip of the blade in and poked and prodded the pieces of metal until they loosened. He handed four small pieces of shrapnel to her to which she put in her pocket. The soldier used a coagulant powder to stop the bleeding and than put a couple of band-aids over them.

"You're good! I gotta' go!" he shouted picking up his Type 89 assault rifle and slowly advancing around the IFV while shooting at PKA soldiers. Kuchiki peeked around the Type 89 IFV to scan the horizon. 2nd platoon was plowing into the trench and Lt. Otsuka was leading 3rd into the trenches too.

Kuchiki charged towards the trench. She dived in and landed on her stomach as MG fire raked the area. She looked around and saw the empty eyes of a dead PKA soldier staring at her. A few months ago Kuchiki would have fainted, but now she was use to death and didn't even flinch at the dead soldier. However the patch on the man's shoulder caught her eye.

The patch has two crossed AK-47s over a shield which didn't seem strike her as a combat unit's insignia. She racked her brain, she'd seen this before.

"… home guard forces," said out loud. These were internal security forces, not the regular army. They were equipped to suppress uprisings within the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, not to fight a full on invasion.

"Lt. Otsuka!" shouted Kuchiki into her radio.

"Nani?" she said back into the radio.

"These guys are home guard forces, not the army! This isn't the main force!"

Lt. Otsuka froze. She just was told that this wasn't the enemy's main force. What was going on?

A bullet zipped past her. She couldn't worry now. The enemy was here, but not in force. Still she had to take Gimhae International Airport. RPGs were now shrieking through the night's air and into the paratroopers. Although they weren't as heavily armed as the regular army they fought fiercely. The high grass panels of the terminals shattered as 35mm rounds ripped through it.

Kuchiki fired a long automatic burst and swept the upper floors. She knew she hit one soldier because he fell down to the tarmac and hit with a sickening crunch. A HMMWV with TOW launch on it fired a missile into a spot where MG fire was intense. Fire, stray body parts, blood, and screams came from where the AT missile hit. Lt. Otsuka led her platoon for an entrance into the terminal. A soldier with a shotgun blasted the padlock apart and opened the door. They entered a large room full of conveyor belts which would have delivered baggage to the baggage claim or outgoing flights.

They dashed through the room and into the baggage claim area. Lt. Otsuka dived for the floor, the soldier behind her head exploded as woman with an AK-47 fired at them. Arisawa shot her in the stomach from the doorway and then enter the baggage claim.

A couple of North Korean soldiers were coming down the stairs to intercept the Japanese paratroopers, but were shot up by the paratroopers.

Lt. Otsuka stopped at the bottom of the staircase to the upper floors. She guessed the enemy was up their and they may have the entrance covered.

"Mount bayonets!" she ordered. Everyone who had a gun that could mount a bayonet did as ordered. Lt. Otsuka pulled out a smoke grenade and tossed it to the top of the stairs. Once smoke started to billow out she charged.

Kuchiki felt her heart rate skyrocket as she screamed a war cry and charged. She blundered through the smoke and into the ticket counter and baggage check area. Half the building was a wreck and looked as if a bomb had gone off. The PKA soldiers who were still shooting at the paratroopers outside wielded around to face the enemy attacking their rear. Kuchiki and Arisawa weaved between benches and pieces of rubble from the destroyed part of the building to get at the enemy's flank.

Internally, Kuchiki was grateful for being short as she saw a man much taller than her take a hit to the chest and fall over in pain. She reached down to treat his wound, but rifle fire forced her to run for cover. She returned fire at the offending soldier, but missed.

The PKA soldier where losing ground fast and they surrounded. Slowly the incoming fire stopped. A man stood up with a rifle held high in one hand, he placed it on the ground, and walked towards 3rd platoon his hands in the air yelling pleas in Korean. Couple of soldiers followed him slowly.

Lt. Otsuka approached him. Once she was close she made him lie on his stomach while she padded him down. Satisfied he wasn't armed, Otsuka bound his arms with a plastic zip tie.

The 2nd Airborne Regiment had seized Gimhae International Airport and reported so. But they had some troubling reports.

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**0645 Hours; September 25****th****, 2010; USS Ashland (LSD-48), 10km off shore of Pusan; South Gyeongsang Province, (occupied) Republic of Korea**

"So that's Pusan," said Major Solomon. The wind blew around her short black hair and the Star of David that hung around her neck.

"Yup," said Captain Maiwald stirring his coffee.

It was finally dawn. Jack Shinhachi, Jason Maiwald, and Maya Solomon were standing on deck of the USS Ashland of the Whidbey Island Class dock landing ship which was designed to deploy landing craft and hovercraft. Some of the newer Harpers Ferry class dock landing ships were also in the invasion fleet being protected by the USS Montana, USS Missouri, USS George Washington, and JFS Sutsuru.

"I just got off the phone," said Lt. Colonel Shinhachi walking over to them and said in a careless manner, "the Japanese 1st Airborne Division reports they encountered elements of the 8th Home Guard Brigade, not any regular army units."

"That's not good," said Major Solomon vaguely. Maya Solomon had been one of Jack and Jason's war-junky friends for years. They'd hang out watching planes take off at Boeing Field, read up on the latest military hardware, watch the newest war movies, and play first-person shooters. She knew that even though they sounded indifferent to the situation, they were very much on top of everything and very worried.

"50 bucks says the main PKA force is in the next province and the Chinese aren't even in the country," said Maiwald.

"Intel says the PLA has troops in Korea," countered Solomon lightly.

"And you trust the CIA?"

"No, but it would be hard to miss a massive Chinese armored corps."

Shinhachi leaned against the side rail. 'The enemy isn't in the South Gyeongsang Province. Jason is probably right that the PKA is further north and Maya is defiantly right that the PLA is in Korea. They'd never let the PKA handle this alone, not after the failed invasion of Japan… Seoul… I bet they're up around Seoul. If that's true then we have until tomorrow morning to get the high ground before they arrive in force.'

"Hey guys," called Shinhachi, "We're fighting on the mainland. Here, the People's Liberation Army and People's Korean Army can bring about their full force. We had the advantage when we dominated the seas and skies and starved them of food and resources, but now they have a land route. If we don't move quickly… we're going to be trampled by the juggernaut."

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**0650 Hours; September 25****th****, 2010; PLA Korean Peninsula HQ, Seoul; Seoul Special Administrative Province, (occupied) Republic of Korea**

General Xiao was sleeping in his quarters when a knock came.

"Enter."

A lieutenant entered the room and saluted, "Sir, we lost contact with most of the 4th Fleet and all radar and radio is being jammed around the Strait of Korea."

Xiao could see the man was sweating, "What else?"

"A recon submarine scouted out the Japanese ports where we saw NATO preparing ther invasion force……. none of the ships are in port… they're all at sea."

General Xiao stared. He didn't feel fear. The glorious People's Liberation Army Ground Forces would rip NATO apart on the mainland. It was a matter of getting them down to the south where NATO would have likely landed. He estimated it would take 24 to 30 hours to get the entire XI Corps fully armed to the south coast. This wasn't a problem. He'd show the People's Republic and NATO what a real general could do.

* * *

Well, hope ya'll enjoyed this chapter. I've got work piling on, but next week for me will be spring break so I'll kick back and relax and maybe write chapter 42… or not, but it will be written. I'm hoping to have this story done before I go to college, but it's not like I can't write while at school, right?

I've got some ideas for the next few chapters and it start to get graphic. Also ahgwa asked about the lemon and I honestly don't know when or if I'll have one in this story. If it suits the story than yes, but if I can't make it work than it'll have to wait for the sequel. Sorry, but it has to be this way, but don't lose hope because I can get pretty creative when backed into a corner.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. In some East Asian nations, ping-pong is a national sport. The People's Republic of China was last years champion nation in International Table Tennis Federation (IFFT) which is the international league of ping-pong players first held in Berlin, Germany in 1926. The ITTF championship tournament will be held in China.

2. Over the years several reports of rape and sexual assault have been reported by Japanese schoolgirls in Okinawa. The people of Okinawa feel that the USMC is giving too much freedom to rove the island unchecked. Following a recent rape case the Pentagon has confined all soldiers, sailors, and airmen to their bases when not on duty. If the soldiers have families living with them they too are confined to the bases except for medical or educational purposes.

3. One of the worst things that can happen to a paratrooper is when a parachute opens and slows down the soldier the forces rips gear off. This happened to the US 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions during the Normandy Invasion; a number of the 101st and 82nd landed without weapons.

4. The K1 or Type 88 is the primary tank of the Army of the Republic of (South) Korea. It's produced by Hyundai Precision and is basically a South Korean version of the M1A1 Abram. The original K1 had a 105mm gun, but the future K1A1 will have a 120mm gun like on the Abrams. South Korea is working on the K2 Black Panther which is supposed to be the ARoK's future mainstay tank which is expected to enter service in 2011.

5. Cooking a grenade means arming a grenade and then holding it for a second or two before throwing it so the enemy can't toss it back or away. Most grenades burn out after four or five seconds. Never let a grenade cook for more than two seconds because you need to give the grenade enough time to get away from you plus there is always the chance it could prematurely detonate. Cooking a grenade is something you want to avoid doing because it's dangerous.


	42. Chapter 42: Op Republic's Typhoon Part 4

Well we're finally back to good old 5th squad. This chapter won't have the war during ugly, but will have the warning signs. Can you find them? Hey I can't do all the work, you guys have to do a little. This chapter will probably be slow paced and not have a lot of action, but hang in there.

A special thank you to ahgwa for adding me to your favorite author's list, adding my story to your favorite story list, and adding me to your story alerts.

I don't own any copywrite or trademarked item. Please review and/or tell a friend.

* * *

**Chapter 42: Operation: Republic's Typhoon**

**Part IV: Welcome Back to Korea**

"Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have

striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The

hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.

In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on

other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war

machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of

Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well

equipped and battle hardened. He will fight savagely.

But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of

1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats,

in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their

strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home

Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions

of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men.

The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to

Victory!

I have full confidence in your courage and devotion to duty and skill in

battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory!

Good luck! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great

and noble undertaking."

General of the Army Dwight David Eisenhower's address for Operation: Overlord the invasion of Normandy

**0600 Hours; September 25****th****, 2010; JFS Kunisaki, 10km off shore of Pusan; South Gyeongsang Province, (occupied) Republic of Korea**

"Sankyu," said Harima.

"Iē, Kenji," said Fujiwara, "you need to put you tongue between your teeth at the beginning of that word. That will produce the T-H sound."

"Thank yu," said Harima slowly. Harima remember the difficulties in communicating with foreign soldiers. Fujiwara Fiona who has an American born mother spoke fluid English and was teaching him. The hard part was that many pronunciations in English do not appear in Japanese.

"It's really 'thank you' but that's close enough," she said kindly. "Let's try greetings again."

Harima nodded and said, "Herro, I Harima Kenji."

"The L Harima, remember the L," said Fujiwara patiently. The letter L is not in the Japanese language, but the letter R is articulated in Japanese like the Spanish double R and sounds like an L. Most Japanese replaced L with R and Japanese trying to speak English often made that mistake.

"Hai," said Harima taking a sip of coffee that was sitting on the table they were seated at. "He… Hel… Hello."

"Very good," said Fujiwara encouragingly. "Now a couple more things. In English you say your given name first and family name second. In American they call your given names your first name and your family name your last name, understand?"

"I think so," said Harima. English was so hard. It was like he had to learn to use his mouth all over again with all the sounds. He tried reading English thinking it would be easier with only 26 characters to Japanese which as over 2,000 characters, but it proved to be deceptively much harder than he'd expected with all the weird rules and exceptions.

"Another thing is that in western nations they usually ask who your doing. It's polite and expected of you. It's also expected that you pretty much always say you're fine unless something is really wrong."

"Weird," said Harima (1).

"Just try it," she ordered in a teacher like manner.

"Sure… uh Hello… I Kenji…"

"Proper grammar Kenji," interrupted Fujiwara. "Say 'I am' or 'my name is'."

"Got it," he said, "Hello, my name is Kenji Harima… how are you?"

Harima grinned and Fujiwara clapped. So did Kitsumori, Hanai, and Jupei who were watching while they ate breakfast.

"What if I don't know them?" he asked.

"Than you have to ask them their name. You remember how?"

"Wha.. what ist... what is your name?"

"Very good Harima. I'm going to get something to eat and you just keep reading that book," said Fujiwara indicating a book on learning English. Like the disciplined he **never** was, Harima began to review the book and read a lesson on navigating a town and asking for directions.

"Looks like your soldiers find ways to occupy their time," said Captain Hitsugaya to 2nd Lt. Hashigawa.

"5th squad certainly does," said Lt. Hashigawa wryly while eating something the Americans called spam. It wasn't the most pleasant food he had, but it was food… sorta'.

"Attention all personal," yelled someone over the ship's PA, "we have an incoming announcement from Tokyo."

Everyone stared at the speaker mounted on the wall above the bulkhead that exited the mess hall.

"Proud soldiers, sailors, and airmen of the mighty Japanese Federal Armed Forces, today we liberate our oppressed neighbors with our western brothers and sisters in arms."

Nobody spoke. Nobody moved. They only stared quietly at the PA.

"We have invaded Korea three times as conquerors under one warlord and two different emperors. Today we are invading Korea, but not in the name of conquest and exploitation. We invade in the name of liberation of our democratic neighbors."

Some soldiers looked at each other. However was talking was speaking in a calm soothing manner that was relaxing. Like a father.

"I looked to you all to show the spirit of the samurai who carried on the tradition of bushito (warrior code). Show courage in the face of enemy equality proud and determine to obtain victory. Do not abandon your friends and allies in cowardice."

Many people sat or stood up straighter in response to the request to show courage. No one knew why, but they wanted live up to this man's expectations. Even though they had no idea who he was.

"May the glory of victory be yours. I will pray for your success."

The speech ended and was followed by the traditional banzai rally. An officer would lead them by throwing his arms in the air and yelling 'banzai' and the soldiers would copy. They did this three times.

"All hands to the launching bay," order Major Daijin as she entered the mess hall.

As the 27th Infantry Battalion filed out Captain Hitsugaya stopped her and asked, "Who was that?"

"You don't know?" asked Major Daijin.

"Nobody knew who it was," said 1st Lt. Matsumoto standing with the other officers of E Company who nodded with her.

"Well I guess I shouldn't be surprised, he doesn't do many addresses to the public," she said with a shrugged.

"But who?" asked 2nd Lt. Hashigawa.

"It was our Emperor wishing us luck and encouraging us to do our best," she said turning to leave.

The rear section of the ship had a dry dock with a large garage like door that opened into the sea. The basin was being flooded so they could deploy the landing craft. The LCU 1627 Class like it's nearly identical sister classes had a crew of 10. Two sailors were manning M2 .50 cal machine guns, one sailor was operating the ramp on the front of the ship, 1 sailor served as a forward observer, 1 sailor drove the craft, and the rest help with make sure the craft operated. Some sailors were carrying Type 91 handheld SAMs (3) to defend the landing craft from helicopter attacks.

Each LCU carried one company of soldiers which was roughly around 140 to 200 soldiers. The LCU 1627 Class could carry 400 soldiers, but each LCU was being loaded with a vehicle too.

Captain Hitsugaya climbed down a rope latter into the LCU with his company and one of the battalion's Type 89 IFVs in the rear.

The door lifted the orange light of the dawn's sky poured into the docking bay. The LCUs were rocked around a little as current entered the room from the sea. The operators started up the LCUs and headed out.

Harima looked around curiously at the swarm of ships. The amphibious assault ships and amphibious transport dock ships (4) were surrounded by Japanese, American, German, Canadian, and Korean ships. Most of the fleet was Japanese and American with a few frigates and destroyers from the Germany, South Korea, and Canada. The larger LCU 2000 Class which were designed to land tanks were gathering behind the LCACs and smaller LCU 1627 Class.

Harima looked in awe of the massive form of the USS Montana and the smaller, but still huge USS Missouri. The Missouri was sitting in a defensive position between the JFS Sutsuru and USS George Washington. The Montana had its broad side facing shore, but had not turned its main turrets to face the Korean coast. Mass area damage weapons like Mk. 7 16-inch naval gun would not cleared to open fire in fear of causing massive collateral damage to the city of Pusan.

"It's 0700! The Navy will start shelling now!" shouted one of the LCU crew.

Two dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired into the air by US and Japanese Navy cruisers. Destroyers turned their Mk. 25 5-inch naval guns which would do considerably less damage than the 16-inch guns.

Harima watched as shells landed near the shore. The cruise missiles flew out of sight and hit unknown targets deep within Pusan. The barrage was slow and much lighter than the one of the Chinese HQ in Shinomoseki. The South Koreans didn't want NATO to annihilate their largest port city or the people living in it.

"0715! Move out!" shouted someone over the radio.

LCUs roared forwards towards the port city. Well… 8kt (15km/h) wasn't really roaring along, but they were moving towards hostile shores. A couple of frigates and corvettes were moving keeping pace with the landing craft. Since the Pusan was a deep water port, even deep draft ships like aircraft carriers and battleships could pulled into the docks. The frigates and corvettes were pulling in close to protect the LCUs from fighter-bombers and bombers.

Some grey clouds were drifting across the sky, not the kind that threatens rain, but are just there. There were winds blowing in from the south towards the shore. There was also a bit of current shifting the ships and boats around. Some of the soldiers were a light shade of green from seasickness. Most just looked nerves. Only a handful of them hand been to Korea because most of the company was killed there.

"Five minutes!" shouted the driver.

"Okay," said Captain Hitsugaya getting everyone's attention. Some soldiers had to crane their necks because Hitsugaya was shorter than most of them. "When the ramp drops advance like you did in training. Move up with your squads and set up a perimeter until the rest of the brigade. Good luck."

"In coming!"

A handful of mortar rounds fall around the LCUs from Yeongdo-Gu, an large island part of Pusan. The lower half of Pusan was a network of islands and peninsulas the provided several natural ports and the upper half was mountainous. It also natural provided a lot of artillery positions, but the barrage was light and highly inaccurate. US Oliver Perry Class frigates sent 3-inch shells at Yeongdo-Gu. The shelling slowed to only one or two shells landing at odd moments.

Meanwhile in one of the American LCUs.

"Not much of a defense," said Captain Maiwald.

"They're not the problem," said Lt. Colonel Shinhachi, "We're going to take Pusan no problem… it's the counter-attack that has me worried. In Japan we had the advantage because the PLA and PKA had to use planes and ships to provide supplies and reinforcements. We on the mainland and they we can't cut their supply lines like before."

"You keep saying that," said Maiwald.

"So you don't forget like you forgot your pants back in Afghanistan."

"We were ambushed at the base. Excuse me if I thought getting my rifle and sniping the Taliban was more important," said Maiwald defensively.

Meanwhile back to 5th squad.

"60 seconds!"

A lone machine gunner opened fire. The M2 HMGs returned fire with the NATO 12.7x99mm armor piercing cartridge. A UAZ rolled onto the dock, but was ripped to pieces by the .50 cals.

"30 seconds!"

Harima pulled back the bolt on his M-14E3 automatic rifle cock the hammer and closed the bolt to chamber a round. He gripped it tight with the muzzle facing the sky so it wasn't pointing at one of his fellow soldiers.

"10 seconds, may the gods be with you!"

They heard the engines slowing down so they wouldn't crash into the dock they were approaching.

"5-4-3-2-1 clear the ramp!"

The ramp operator pulled on a lever to drop the ramp which fell on the dock in front of them. The ramp was on a slight upward incline, but was still easy enough to scale. Captain Hitsugaya charge forward with 1st Lt. Matsumoto and her platoon right behind him. 2nd Lt. Hashigawa led 2nd platoon off the LCU with 3rd platoon right behind. The Type 89 IFV rolled onto the dock. The LCU reverse and headed back to the Kunisaki for the second wave.

SSgt. Asou led 5th squad up the dock past tall cranes for loading containers to the street. A couple of PKA soldiers opened fire from a four story building. 5th squad scattered and used objects like stacks of I-beams and crates for cover. 5 PKA soldiers stood on the roof in plain sight, a mistake that cost them their lives. Ishida found them to be easy targets for his M-21. Kitsumori used his M-60E4 on PKA soldiers shooting from the windows.

Once the shooting died down the squad advance forward.

"5th squad, there is a group of rocket launchers setting up to attack the second wave. Destroyed them," ordered Captain Hitsugaya over the radio.

"Hai, Captain. What's their position?" asked SSgt. Asou.

"800m north of you."

"Copy that, 5th squad is moving to engage."

Asou led his squad down an alley. They crossed streets with caution. He saw a back door open in one alley and entered. He entered the front room and froze. Kaoji, Yamako, Shimazu, Kitsumori, Hanai, and Harima feel their stomachs churn violently.

"Sir?" asked Ikuro wondering why half of their squad was looking at a simply bank like it was full of ghosts.

"… the blood stains… they're still here," he said hoarsely pointing to massive dark patches on the carpets and walls. They were dark brown and Ikuro wouldn't have recognized them as blood if Asou hadn't pointed it out.

"So are the shrapnel holes," said Harima in a tone that sounded like he was trapped in a nightmare.

"What's going on?" asked Ishida.

"We…" started Asou weakly, "killed civilians… here."

"Sir, I don't mean to do insensitive, but we have a job to do now," reminded Ishida.

Corporal Ikuro walked up to Asou, stared him straight in the eye, and when that failed to get a reaction she slapped him across the face. "Snap out of it. You have any idea how many people we've probably killed with all those air and artillery strikes? Do you? Well I don't and in case you haven't notice we're in the middle of a war!"

Asou looked at her. There was an odd look in her eyes, one of fear, uncertainty, and disappointment. The others had similar looks. Even the veterans of the first Battle of Pusan looked to him… for guidance. Asou felt ashamed and his head started to droop… NO! He was in charge and they looked to him for leadership. If he went down he would bring the rest of the squad with him. No matter how hard it was he had to be strong.

"Gomen, now move out," ordered Asou with as much confidence he could muster.

"Hai, sir," 5th squad said. The response was almost instantaneous. It was another lesson for him.

**0745 Hours; September 25****th****, 2010; Jung-Gu District, Pusan; South Gyeongsang Province, (soon to be liberated) Republic of Korea**

They found their targets. Four vehicles. Harima couldn't find them in the recognition guides. They appeared to be Urals with the rear stripped down to the flatbed and rocket racks mounted on the bed. A couple of UAZs with PKMs mounted on them sat around them.

Kitsumori set up his M-60E4 LMG on the roof of a gas station. Ishida grouched in shadows of internet café which had a nice view of the street. The rest of the squad spread out and surrounded them partially.

"Ishida, man with middle of the street with the sub-machine gun, I think he's the leader. Take him out," ordered Asou.

"Hai… stand by… got him."

The PKA lieutenant dropped to his knees and keeled over with blood poring out of his head. The PKA artillery crew didn't seem to realize that their platoon leader was dead. A second shot killed one of the machine gunners. PKA soldiers started to yell that they were under attack and aim their weapons in random directions with no clear idea of where the shooter was.

Kitsumori started to shoot at one of the UAZs. As soon as the North Koreans trained their weapons towards Kitsumori, Hanai and Harima opened fire from the opposite direction. Ikuro, Ifukube, Kurosaki, and Abarai started shooting from a fourth direction. Shimazu and his team were lying quietly in wait.

Shimazu seeing his chance charged forwards. The engineers stormed the confused PKA soldiers and cleaned house. He of the engineers tossed an HE grenade onto the flatbeds and then ran like hell. When the grenades went off their caused the rockets to detonate as well.

"This is Echo 5-1, enemy rocket battery is destroyed, over."

"This is Echo leader, go work. Choppers are bringing in additional troops and LCACs are bringing in the heavier vehicles. Fall back to your sector and held, Echo leader out."

Within the hour tank rolling past 5th squad's position for the center of the city. Civilians in turn walked south towards the NATO soldiers in small numbers. Type 90s and the new Type 10s rolled on for the high ground that the 81st Armor/Heliborne Regiment was supposed to hold in the northern part of Pusan.

**1930 Hours; September 24****th****, 2010; the Pentagon (United States Armed Force's HQ), Arlington; Commonwealth of Virginia, United States of America**

"What time is it in Korea?" asked General Pace.

"8:30am," said Admiral Olson. The United States was 13 hours behind Korea and Japan and on the other side of the International Date Line. It was Friday the 24th at night in the Eastern United States, but it was Saturday morning the 25th in Korea.

"So then are forces have taken the port?" asked President Crane.

"Yes Madam President," said Admiral Keating. "The command of the 7th Fleet has informed me they are in control of all of the major ports and the island and peninsulas that surround them."

"The South Koreans have linked up with the Japanese paratroopers that seized Gimhae earlier today… well during the night for them," said General George W. Casey Jr. staff general of the United States Army.

"So all is going well then?" asked President Crane.

"… we have a problem actually," said General Pace slowly.

A series of images appeared on the screen behind him.

"These are satellite photos taken half an hour ago."

It was difficult to see what some of the smaller objects, but it was still painfully clear what she was looking at.

"How many of them?" she asked weakly.

"… we aren't sure…" said General Moseley.

"You have an estimate thought," she said knowing that must.

"… 2 to 2.5 million plus," said Admiral Olson, head of the Special Operation Command. "… and that's not including the Chinese. Brigadier General Lennox who is my field commander out their says he expects them to reach Pusan and Kusan by tomorrow morning."

"Why so long?"

"Well if you look at these photos you'll see ma'am that the PKA are carefully moving their soldiers through heavily populated areas or back roads we can't find or don't know about so we can't use B-52s to stop them… or at least not without pissing off the South Korean military who we need. This means they can only funnel a limited number of troops at a time."

"That's clever of them," said President Crane still in shock at the mass of troops advancing towards them.

"It seems it's the only thing the North Koreans are good at aside from maintaining a nation on nothing. Moving masses of troops undetected."

"How do we stop them?" she asked.

"… we don't… South Korea is too heavily populated for us to use the kind of firepower we need to stop one third of the PKA," said General Pace.

"Who is in charge of the assaults?" asked President Crane.

"Uh… a British officer General Kingston is in charge of the beach landings in middle area between Kusan and Pusan. Lt. General Blackwell of the USMC is in charge of the landings up the coast from Pusan. In charge at Kusan… uh, it appears it is a jointed command with the French, Belgians, and South Koreans. At Pusan General Sang-wu of the South Koreans appears to be in charge, but Lt. General Honnoji of the Japanese Army, Lt. General Newsome of the US Army, Major General Cartier of the Canadian Army, and Lt. General von Müller of ther German Army all seem to have some say in the matter."

"That could turn ugly," said General Conway.

"Yeah, but the South Koreans wanted to be in charge and so did we."

"Yeah, like they did a great job defending their homeland," said General Moseley sarcastically.

"Yeah well, it's their country."

"Can we get back to the matter at hand?" asked President Crane.

"Sorry ma'am," said the generals and admirals.

"You need to deal with this crisis," she ordered standing up and walking towards the door. "And I need to deal with another crisis."

"Huh?" asked the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"Civil war has broken out in Russia and total western Russia is in anarchy. I have to speak with the State Department."

**2019 Hours; September 24****th****, 2010; Office of Secretary of State Nicolas Spinoza, United States Department of State; Washington DC, United States of America**

"What's the damage Nick?" asked President Crane taking a seat.

"Some good news, but mostly bad," said Secretary of State Spinoza (5). "So far most of Soviet Union is stable. Germany shot down a couple of Russian pilots who flew over Berlin out of an air base in Poland. The Polish government says they are going to exercise what control they have over the Soviet troops in their nation."

"Whatever that is worth. They may be part of the Warsaw Pack and Soviet Union, but they're subservient to the Russians," said President Crane.

"True, but with no orders coming from Moscow, the Eastern European Communist Blocs (6) seem to be assuming responsibility for the Soviet units in their nation. They aren't fighting with their fellow Soviets in Russia and most are just waiting to see what the outcome is."

"Most?"

"Czechoslovakia (7) is in chaos. We had to withdraw our envoys from Prague and some of the Czech soldiers broke ranks and attacked Austria. Germany and Austria are threatening to invade Czechoslovakia if they don't keep their soldiers in line."

"So what are is the rest of the Soviet Union doing in response?"

"The Poles are putting marshal law in effect to prevent Soviet troops from attacking Germany or Austria. The Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova sent contingent troops to suppress the chaos in Czechoslovakia. The rest are trying to make sure the violence in Western Russian doesn't move west and set off a war with the EU. And speaking of the violence in Russia, we can't tell who is who. We know it's split between the Ultra-Nationalists and the People's Democratic Party. We know that the fighting in concentrated between Leningrad and Stalingrad with Moscow in the middle. We know that it is so fast paced we can't figure out who is winning."

"What's the good news then?"

"Hungry seized their chance to expel the Russians and declared their independence from the Soviet Union."

"Are they willing to deal with us or the EU?" asked President Crane hopefully.

"They say they want to establish their government and write a constitution before beginning they take sides in what they view as a new Cold War… Michelle, what is our plan of action?"

"We can't do anything. Russia won't accept help and I can't ask anyone to do near that melee with 10,000 nukes and nobody really in charge of them. We have to wait for the situation to stabilize," said President Crane walking dejectedly out of the office.

"What happens if the People's Democratic Part wins?" asked Secretary of State Spinoza.

"We continue with our original policy I had at the beginning of my term."

"And if the Ultra-Nationalists win?"

"… then our relations with the Soviet Union will be mostly up to the Department of Defense."

"You think it means a second Cold War?"

"Well I think it will mean…"

So the beach landing may seem anticlimactic, don't they? Hopefully the other things going on in this chapter will alert you to what's the come or else you're missing something.

So what do you think will happen in the next chapter? With a couple million PKAGF soldiers descending on NATO soldiers in Pusan, Kusan, and the rest of the southern coast who will win? Will the entire Soviet Union fall apart? Will Yakumo ever tell Kenji her feelings? Will people realize holding the Olympics in Beijing is a bad idea because of all the smog? Does any realize the Iraqi government can actually finance all their needs without us, but just don't have the organization to decide on how to use their budget?

Okay, those last few statements aren't relevant, but they are true.

Appendix

1. If you're reading this than I'm sure you can speak English. In all western languages (English, French, German, Spanish, etc) you are kinda' expected to say something like 'Hello, how are you?' We normally just say 'fine' even when we're not; it's instinctive. The Japanese have a different culture from us (duh) and do not ask 'ogenki desu ka (how are you)' because it is **a very serious question**. Only ask how they are if you think something is actually wrong.

2. Japanese Emperors have a given name when they are born and then renamed after their deaths. Each era of Japanese history since the end of the Edo Era are marked by the duration of the Emperor's reign and named for their imperial name. Mutsuhito or Emperor Meiji ruled from 1867-1912: Meiji Era. Yoshihito or Emperor Taishō ruled from 1912-1926: Taishō Era. Hirohito or Emperor Shōwa ruled from 1926-1989: Shōwa Era. Emperor Akihito or after his death Emperor Heisei rules from 1989-present: Heisei Era. Crown Prince Naruhito is the expected successor to Emperor Akihito (Heisei); he will not be given an emperor's name until he becomes emperor.

3. The Type 91 SAM is a Japanese version of the US FIM-92 Stinger SAM. The Type 91 is made by Toshiba Heavy Industries. It has an effective range of 300m to 5km.

4. The amphibious assault ships include ships like US Navy's Wasp Class or Tarawa Class which has the appearance of an aircraft carrier, but have neither catapults nor a ski jump ramp to launch fixed wing planes. Technically it is a helicopter carrier because it was mostly designed to launch transport choppers like the CH-53E Super Stallion or CH-46 Sea Knight and V/STOL planes like the AV-8 Harrier or the new F-35 Lightening II. The amphibious transport dock ships are mostly designed to carrier landing craft like the LCAC or LCU.

5. The US Department of State is responsible for carrying out the president's foreign policy. The Secretary of State is in charge of the State Department.

6. I know most of you think this word should be block and that I misspelled it, but this isn't block as in to wall off or a cube shape object. The word is in fact bloc, B-L-O-C, which means community, alliance, or coalition. The countries east of Germany were called the Eastern European Communist Blocs.

7. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the former Soviet republic known as Czechoslovakia came to a peaceful agreement to brake up into to nations. They are now known as the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Because in my story the Soviet Union never fell there is still a Czechoslovakia.


	43. Chapter 43: Meat Grinder

I think this chapter will put my story over 190,000 words

I think this chapter will put my story over 190,000 words. Couple more chapters my story will be over 200,000. This chapter will be pretty graphic. I intend to take the level of violence up a notch.

I actually started this chapter this morning and finished it around 2 in the afternoon. For some reason I can't do my usual scene breaks so I'm just using a different one.

I don't own any trademarked or copywrite item. Please review and/or tell a friend.

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**Chapter 43: Meat Grinder**

"The coward and the courageous alike must die."

Lucanus

**1030 Hours; September 26****th****, 2010; 3km north of Pusan City Hall, Pusan; South Gyeongsang Province, (liberated) Republic of Korea**

It was a nice day. Clouds were drifting across the blue sky lazily. It was moderately cool. A light wind was blowing from the west.

They were on one of the foothills. From here, 5th squad had a nice view to the southeast of the Suyeongman Bay and the US warships that had taken up residence in it. To the northeast they could see a river at the bottom of the hill that flowed into the bay. To the west and south were civilian hospitals and to the southwest as Pusan City Hall. The 27th Battalion was covering the two main highways that hall to city hall.

5th squad and a group of resistance fighters had dug foxholes in the soft dirt around Buddhist temple on an elevated slope that gave them a nice view of the road all the way to the river.

It was an easy job.

If you over looked the seemingly endless PKA soldiers charging mindlessly up the highway.

"Keep your heads down!" shouted Asou over the incoming fire.

An hour and a half ago some scouts had appeared and they quickly disposed of them. About an hour ago larger numbers of soldiers showed up… and they haven't stopped coming since.

"One shot, one kill!" shouted Asou for what he felt was the 20th time. He had no idea how many were coming. They'd already burned through a lot of ammo and Asou was worried their guns would start to overheat, especially Kitsumori's gun because machine guns were usually the first weapons to overheat.

The enemy had no cover coming up the road at first, but now they were using the corpses of their own soldiers as protection. They seemed to have no regard for their own lives.

"Sir! I don't think they're all carrying gun!" shouted Ishida. He could see some of the North Koreans weren't carrying anything. Some were carrying guns without clips in them and were taking ammo from their dead comrades. Some were carrying guns from the Second World War like the Mosin-Nagant bolt-action rifle, DP light machine gun, and the post World War II SKS semi-auto rifle.

Kurosaki was taking aim at a short soldier and shot him in the neck. As the soldier's head lurched back he saw he'd just shot a kid. He didn't look a day older than 14. He stared for two seconds… than a bullet knock off his helmet.

"Ichigo! Pay attention!" shouted Abarai who was currently shooting at a group of people in their 60s.

"Who are these people?!" demanded Hanai. "What are they thinking?! They aren't soldiers! They're kids and the elderly."

"They seem close enough to soldiers to me! In case you haven't notice, they're all trying to kill us!" screamed Kitsumori who was firing his M-60E4 in short a burst he could manage. The M-60E4 was the best weapon they had for fixed position defensive fighting and he couldn't allow it to run out of ammo or over heat.

"Where is our support?!" shouted Asou at Kaoji who was desperately trying to help.

"I have no idea!" he screamed back clearly overwhelmed.

"Fuck! They got tanks!"

A pair of T-54s were slowly advancing across the bridge towards them. Asou from the prone position watch as they made a sickening crunching noise as they crushed the dead and dying they practically paved the highway.

On the highway 4th and 6th squads were readying a TOW launcher to greet their new guests. The entire battalion was getting spread thin as they tried to halt the enemy. Gutters on the streets were flowing with blood. It was hard to tell what was stronger, the stench of death or gunpowder.

'This is crazy,' thought Harima as he shot PKA soldiers. 'Only one company to hold these guys off.'

It wasn't good odds, but what could they do?

* * *

**1100 Hours; September 26****th****, 2010; NATO Korean HQ, Dong-Gu District; Pusan, Republic of Korea**

"Sir the Japanese 27th Infantry Battalion is requesting naval support," said a South Korean Army sergeant to General Sang-wu commander of the 1st Army of the South Korean Army.

"They are too close to Mirabo and Prima Hospitals. The US would demolish the area along with hundreds of thousands of civilians," said General Sang-wu annoyed his subordinate would mention an idea that could put thousands at risk.

"They report facing overwhelming numbers."

"So does everyone else. The 1st Division will not move until the main enemy force attack!"

"But what if this is the main attack?"

"I will know if this is the main attack, now get to work!"

"Yes sir."

Meanwhile Lt. General Honnoji commander of the Japanese IV Corps reached for a phone.

"Vice Admiral Takeisawa? This is Lt. General Honnoji, one of my battalions is being overwhelmed. I can't authorize naval fire, but can you airlift supplies? Arigato."

* * *

**1130 Hours; September 26****th****, 2010; 3km north of Pusan City Hall, Pusan; South Gyeongsang Province, (liberated) Republic of Korea**

A Japanese Navy SH-60J Sea Hawk circled in low with a cargo net suspended below it. He dropped a bunch of crates of ammo and shored out a quickly as possible with shots being fired at it.

"SSgt Asou! I can't reach 3rd platoon any more!" shouted Kaoji.

'Oh great, more good news,' thought Asou sarcastically.

The enemy had silenced 6th squad completely and now it was only two squad against the enemy's… well no one of sure whether is was a division, corps, army, or army group.

"Sir, 4th squad is retreating to our position," said Yamako from his foxhole.

"Cover 4th squad!"

Some of the resistance fighters left the safety of their foxholes to help 4th squad, but they the North Koreans seized the chance to kill their enemy when their were in the open. Bullets raked their bodies and they seemed to shutter with each impact. Crimson splattered through the air.

"Stay down! Stay down!" Asou yelled at the other South Koreans who looked as if they were going to help their friends. "You'll just die with them."

"Sir I can't reach anyone, there's just too much radio chatter. I make myself heard," said Kaoji removing the radio from his back and putting it on the ground he rolled over onto his stomach and started shooting at the enemy who had advance within a matter of meters from them.

"I got ammo," said Harima as he crawled into the fire team's foxhole on his stomach. He passed to canisters of machine guns belts and bag full of 5.52x45mm rounds.

"Great airgat…"

"Look out!" shouted Harima. He pulled out his M1911A1 and shot a North Korean in the face. A second one with a Mosin-Nagant came up and stood over them. Harima fired, but miss. The North Korean leaped back and fired a shot over their head. Without thinking, Harima grabbed the hilt of a trench shovel. They used it to dig the foxhole and left it stuck in the ground. Harima wielded it like battleaxe and smashed it into the soldier's neck as he tried to load a second shot.

Warm liquid cover Harima's face and he spat some of it out because some of it went into his open mouth. He looked around for the soldier he just hit and found a severed head on the ground. Harima looked at the blood still coming out of the artery in the neck and it drip off the shovel head just killed a man with.

"Die Jap die!"

**Wham!**

Harima thrust the shovel into the chest of a third soldier knocking him off his feet. He dropped to his stomach, picked off his rifle, and started shooting at the enemy… after tossing the head out of the foxhole.

"Hey, what happened to the fire from the engineers?" asked Hanai.

Jupei rolled to one side to look towards their right flank. She could only see two out of the four engineers shooting.

"I don't know."

Lt. Hashigawa finally reached Asou's position with the sad remains of 4th squad.

"Sir, where is the rest of the company?" asked Asou.

"Their being pushed back."

"We need to fall back," said Asou,

"We can't. They'll be on top of us before we make it half way down the road. Face the fact sergeant. We're all gonna' die either way," said Hashigawa. "I can't reach battalion or regimental HQ. The South Koreans won't let the navy help us because they think they'll flatten the city and air support is trying to hold off the enemy armor assaults on the northern parts of Pusan."

Asou felt fear start to over take him. It couldn't end this way. He reached for Kaoji. Maybe he could reach somebody.

"Kaoji!"

No response.

"Kaoji?"

He pushed Kaoji and he rolled over revealing a bullet hole in his forehead. His eyes stared blankly at the sky. He never screamed, yelled, or made any noise to indicate he was hit… let alone killed.

'We really are going to die,' he thought. He thought about all the things he never did. He never went to college. Got the car he'd always dreamed of getting. And as for Sarah… life really isn't fair.

An explosion went off and he heard a scream of pain from one of the female soldiers. Jupei lay on the ground bleeding from below her stomach. Harima and Hanai grabbed her feet and pulled back into the foxhole. They too were bleeding, but not as badly as her.

"Where are you hit?" Hanai shouted over the shooting.

She shook her head and placed her hands defensively over her belt. Hanai and Harima's eyes widened when they realized where she must have been hit. She looked like she was in excruciating pain. Hanai looked at her helplessly. He was in charge of the fire team and was responsible for her… but he wasn't a medic and Kurosaki couldn't get to them within being killed.

Hanai adjusted the microphone mounted on his helmet and said, "Sir, Jupei's down. She needs a medi-vac."

A pause and then, "I can't reach anyone."

"… we're all going to die… aren't we?" asked Harima.

Hanai just looked at him and tried to answer, but failed.

"Lieutenant, we need to do something!" shouted Asou.

"Hai, but wha…"

A bullet ripped through Lt. Hashigawa's neck. He slouched forwards a little mouth hanging open with blood dripping down his chin. Asou watched helplessly as a second shot hit his superior. Lt. Hashigawa who led them through Awaji Island and Shinomoseki. Now he was dead. The man who'd steered them through so much. A man who served the Japanese military years before the war.

* * *

**1200 Hours; September 26****th****, 2010; NATO Korean HQ, Dong-Gu District; Pusan, Republic of Korea**

"General Sang-wu, I have to say I am a little more than just concerned about the Japanese holding the line in the Yeongje-Gu District," said Lt. General von Müller.

"I have to agree with my German friend here," said Lt. General Newsome. "They are being overwhelmed and they lost contact with one of their platoons."

Lt General Honnoji watched as NATO and South Korean officers argued back and forth. They seemed more concerned about being right then the fact that one of his battalions are dying. Not that anyone was willing to listen to him.

"I outrank you Lt. General Newsome and I will not allow your soldiers to destroy this city," said General Sang-wu putting extra emphasis Lt. General.

"Listen here you motherfucking half-ass excuse for a political ass kisser," said Newsome. "It's either we risk this city or the liberation of this country. Other things are happening in this world that require our attention so we may never generate enough resources for a second invasion!"

"Well that is a risk I am willing to take."

* * *

**1230 Hours; September 26****th****, 2010; somewhere behind enemy lines, Pusan; South Gyeongsans Province, (occupied) Republic of Korea**

"That looks like their supply depot," said Captain Maiwald.

"Looks like they're just PKA infantry… where are the PLA?" asked Major Solomon not liking not knowing where the stronger of the two enemies were.

"They're hanging back and letting the PKAGF tire us out before they strike," said Lt. Colonel Shinhachi signaling part of Roanoke Platoon to move to the enemy's flank.

"What if we break?" asked Captain Maiwald.

"Then they'll just dig in and we have to fight a long slow fight up to Seoul and the DMZ," said Shinhachi simply. "Now Maya I need your platoon to cut off the road."

"On it. Cascade Platoon, let's go," ordered Major Solomon disappearing in the brush with her platoon to ensure no reinforcements would attack Roanoke Platoon as they torched one of the enemy's main supply dumps.

* * *

**1300 Hours; September 26****th****, 2010; 3km north of Pusan City Hall, Pusan; South Gyeongsang Province, (liberated) Republic of Korea**

"Shit," Asou grunted. He was in the prone position again. He stood up to help cover the last of the South Korean resistance fighters with them only to get shot in the leg.

4th squad was down to five soldiers. No one in the engineer squad appeared to be alive. Yamako was unconscious and may very well be in a coma for all they knew after a PKA soldier hit him with the butt of an AK-47. It was four hours into the enemy assault with still no signs of letting up. The sun was beating down on them and now they could smell death. The ground was no longer visible. It was appeared that the earth was corpses, intestines, brain matter, unidentifiable internal organ, and blood… and the insects feeding on them in spite of the raging battle.

It was a wonder they weren't all dead yet. Kitsumori had left his overheated gun where it was and now was using a Soviet built DP-27 light machine gun. It was an odd looking gun. It had a rifle grip, gaps in the barrel housing to allow it to cool, a flimsy bipod, and an overall cheap appearance. The most unique feature was that it had a drum clip mounted flat on top of the gun and it had a level like bolt underneath the weapon.

Harima and Hanai were using ancient Mosin-Nagant bolt-action rifles. Jupei was unconscious, whether that was a good thing they didn't know and they were pretty sure it wasn't.

"How many have we killed?" asked Harima.

"I don't know," answered Hanai.

"That seems to be an answer we have been saying a lot today," said Kitsumori.

"Grenade!"

**Boom!**

"Fuck!"

Harima shot the soldier in the face. He chambered a second round and shot a second soldier in chest.

"They're throwing more! We can't stay here!"

Harima and Hanai grabbed Jupei and carried her to the command team's foxholes while Kitsumori covered them.

"Shit!" Harima stumbled.

"Harima what the hell?!"

"They hit me!"

"Don't drop her!"

Hanai however tripped and fell over into one of the foxholes with Jupei onto of him. Harima fell over. He felt the burn of a 7.62x39mm round in his upper back.

Asou looked at his fire team. Jupei looked like she was in a coma, Harima was still fighting, but was in a lot of pain, Hanai was bleeding from his fall, and Kitsumori's hand was burned from his M-60E4 overheating.

His assault team had just made it up. Kurosaki was scrambling around with the medical kit he was issued before the invasion to do what he could. Ikuro, Ifukube, and Abarai were trying to hold off the enemy.

"I think they're falling back," said one of the 4th squad soldiers as if she didn't believe it.

"No, I see armor. They're just regrouping," said Ishida.

Asou grabbed the radio that was lying on the ground next to Kaoji's corpse. He picked an open channel at random. He remembered something Harima had told him when reading the NATO guide books about emergency distress calls.

Asou had never used his English he'd been learning, but now was definitely a time to use it, "This is Staff Sergeant Asou of 5th Squad, E Company of the Japanese 27th Infantry Battalion. Broken arrow."

For the first time today all radio traffic went silent.

Then an official sounding voice said, "This is USS Montana, SSgt. Asou please confirm broken arrow."

"Broken arrow!"

* * *

**1320 Hours; September 26****th****, 2010; NATO Korean HQ, Dong-Gu District; Pusan, Republic of Korea**

"Look I may not use my American and German allies strong words, but I think we really do need to move your 1st Division," insisted Major General Cartier.

"You are in no position to tell me what to…"

"General Sang-wu, the American flagship USS Montana and her group are going to open fire," said an aide.

"WHAT?!" everyone shouted.

The sergeant flipped a switch and a radio transmission to the USS Montana. "We have set up an IR beacon. Please do not shell the areas south or west because there are civilians hospitals. It doesn't matter if you hit us. We have already know we are all going to die."

Lt. General Honnoji grabbed a transmitter and started to speak into it, "SSgt. Asou, this is your superior Lt. General Honnoji. Give me a SITREP."

"Sir, we have been holding the enemy off. Most of our platoon are dead and so is my CO. The enemy is regrouping for a last assault. I think there is an entire corps of soldiers out there."

"Hang in there."

Honnoji turned a dial and said, "Vice Admiral Takeisawa. The situation is worse than I thought. Get everything you can to aid the 27th Battalion… I see… good… hai you that and I'll do what I can from here."

"Lt. General Honnoji what are you doing?" demanded one of the South Korean officers.

"Saving my soldiers," he said curtly.

"You can't just do allow our homeland be destroyed."

"Well that is not your decision any more now, is it? You may have a massive youth population to throw at the enemy, but Japan doesn't (1). Now why don't you listen to the Americans and shove it up your ass or do something useful like get your soldiers up there because this is the main assault."

* * *

**1345 Hours; September 26****th****, 2010; 3km north of Pusan City Hall, Pusan; South Gyeongsang Province, (liberated) Republic of Korea**

Well this is the end.

Steel was raining down on them. The earth was exploding from a wide range of artillery and missile fire. Napalm, cluster bombs, and several other munitions were scorching the Yeongje-Gu District into oblivion.

The sky was disappearing from the smoke and flames filling the air.

Only a handful of people watched as hell appeared before them and the roar of war that promised the end.

* * *

**1607 Hours; September 26****th****, 2010; 3km north of Pusan City Hall, Pusan; South Gyeongsang Province, (??) Republic of Korea**

K1 heavy tanks of the Army of the Republic of Korea surged forwards.

ARoK soldiers are with Daewoo K2 assault rifles, Daewoo K3 light machine guns, and Daewoo K1 carbines dismounted from K21 IFVs.

"What the fuck?" asked a South Korean lieutenant.

They climbed up the hill to where the IR beacon. It didn't seem possible that there were that many dead soldiers. It was a sight that even the veterans could barely stand to look at.

"Any one there!" called a South Korean sergeant in Japanese. "Any survivors!"

Slowly, a few hands were raised.

* * *

One of my shorter chapters, roughly 3,500 words. Hope ya'll enjoyed it… or were at least willing to keep reading. Who is still left alive? And how will the survivors deal with the worst fighting they've seen yet.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. When we think of population problems in East Asia we think of over population like in China. Japan has the opposite problem. Their birth rates are so low that their youth population is decreasing at an alarming rate. The reason is that women in Japan can't afford to take time off of work for maternity leave without losing their jobs. Also there is a lack of daycare centers in Japan. Japanese middleclass life style requires that both parents work and that means there isn't someone to watch a newly born. The Japanese government is trying to figure out a way to increase birth rates and still ensure women will not lose their jobs in the competitive working world.


	44. Chapter 44: Changing of the Guard

Well on with the next chapter

Well on with the next chapter. I'm on spring break so I have a lot of time on my hands and I think I can get a couple of chapters out pretty quickly. Anyways, hope ya'll are okay. This should put me pretty close to 200,000 words.

Thank you Gin and ahgwa for you reviews.

To ahgwa: I put something in the end of this chapter just for you.

I don't own any trademark or copywrite item. Please review and/or tell a friend.

* * *

**Chapter 44: Changing of the Guard**

"Charge in never easy, but it is unavoidable.

We can only hope it's for the best… or won't kill us at the least."

Just something I say. I don't know if it is a real quote.

**?? Hours, September? 2010? Location unknown**

Harima opened his eyes and he saw the blurry outline of a woman.

"Great, another one of my weird dreams after being shot or nearly killed," groaned Harima.

"Gomen PFC Harima, but I don't believe this is a dream… or maybe it is," she the woman with long orange-red hair unsurely as though she didn't know whether she was a figment of Harima's dreamworld.

"So what is today? The 27th?" he asked trying to get up.

She pushed him back down in the bed he was in and said, "Iē, it's actually October 1st."

"I've been asleep for a week?"

"Actually it was only 5 days," she said airily. Harima's vision was getting better and he could see her more clearly. She had grey eyes, wore a doctor's white coat over her olive drab uniform, and had a captain's insignia pinned to her shoulders. She also had large breasts that were easily visible in spite of the slightly lose uniform the military issued. Not that Harima judge women based on their breast size, his four year obsession with Tenma was proof of that.

"So who are you?" asked Harima after trying to get up for the second time.

"I am Captain Inoue Orihime, I was your surgeon," said she.

"Captain Inoue, I need you check on something," said a nurse.

"Coming," said Captain Orihime. She stood up from the stool next to Harima bed, took a couple of steps, and fell flat on her face. He looked up and smiled nervously at Harima who sweat-dropped.

"Please tell me she didn't actually operate on me," pleaded Harima to a male nurse who was putting on a fresh IV bag.

"I know she seems clumsy, but Captain Inoue is very good at her job," he said patting him on the shoulder.

He left and Harima looked around the room. He was in a prefabricated building. There were beds lining the wall. At least ten beds on each side of the room. There was one set of double doors leading to the outside on his left and a second set of double doors to his right that led deeper into this place. It appeared to be a mobile hospital. A mobile army surgical hospital or MASH to be exact.

Harima was lying on his belly because he had been shot in the back. He looked to his left where he saw a sleeping Hanai who had bandages wrapped around his head. To his right was Kitsumori who was sitting up in bed and trying to read with he bandaged hands.

Harima lay in bed for hours. He had no idea how lot he'd be there. He wasn't allowed to move. The nurses brought him lunch as some point. He could remember being so board in his life.

"Hey Harima, hey Hanai" said Asou as he staggered over to him with the aid of a pair of crutches.

"Sir," groaned the two of them. Hanai had woken up about half an hour ago. "Where is everybody?"

Asou sat on the stool between the two of them and sighed, "Kaoji is dead. So are Shimazu, Gawaki, Reimaru, and Shino, so we don't have an engineer team anymore. Yamako is still in a coma. On the bright side, they say they can save Ishida's leg, Abarai won't die, Kurosaki was barely hurt by that grenade, Ikuro liver wasn't hit as he originally thought, and you guys aren't dead."

"And Jupei?"

Asou looked down. He was silent for a long time.

"Is she dead?" asked Hanai cautiously.

"Iē… but her… they called it 'female complications'… or that was a gently way they broke the news to her that her reproductive organs were… damaged," he paused, "she has something like a 60 percent chance that she'll never have kids."

The world seemed like it came to a grounding halt. They didn't hear anything else. What they heard just couldn't he true. It didn't seem fair. It wasn't fair.

Why?

* * *

**0900 Hours; October 2****nd****, 2010; 34****th**** MASH Regiment, Pusan; South Gyeongsang Province, Republic of Korea**

Hanai, Harima, and Kitsumori sat around Jupei's bed. She was staring blankly at the ceiling. Most of the people in the room had gone to breakfast in the mess tent and they were hoping to talk to her without people overhearing them.

"Ohaiyo," they said quietly to her one by one. She gave them a weak smile that reflected how much emotional, and possibly physical, she was in rather than putting on a brave face.

"Uh… you want to talk?" asked Kitsumori gently.

She shrugged and was silent for a while, "You ever thought about having kids?"

In all honesty, neither Hanai nor Harima with their past obsessions of Yakumo and Tenma respectfully could say no. So they said a vague kinda'.

"Yeah… well it isn't the kind of thing you think about… but now they tell me I may never have them… it's… all I can think about," she said. Harima grabbed one hand, Kitsumori grabbed the other, and Hanai put a hand on one of her shoulders each showing their support.

"There's still a chance," said Kitsumori.

"Hai, a 40 percent chance. The odds are against me," she said harshly.

"The odds were against us of being alive today, but here we are," said Hanai falsely cheerful voice, but it was true.

"… why?" she asked feebly.

"… I don't know," said Harima.

"Well at least I'm not in denial or lashing out at everybody like yesterday… but I'd give anything to get have things the way they were before," she said with a sob.

"Hai, it's one of the 5 stages of grief. First denial, second rage, third bargaining, forth depression, and finally acceptance," said Kitsumori.

Everyone stared at him.

"What? Just because I hang out with these two idiots you think I've never read a book," he said defensively.

"Look, Miho… we have your back," said Hanai.

"Hai, we're brotherhood in arms," said Harima proudly punching the air and then cringing in pain from the rapid motion that didn't help his still healing wound.

"Uh… Kenji, Miho is a girl," pointed out Hanai.

"Oh yeah, uh… were a sisterhood in arms… wait you're the only girl in the fire team… uh…," he struggled.

Jupei let out a laugh that sounded a little like a sob, but was a laugh nonetheless, "Baka. You guys are like my big brothers… baka, but there when you need them… arigato."

"Great let's get breakfast," said Harima clapping his hands together.

"Cool," said Kitsumori.

"Sure," said Hanai.

"What about me?" asked Jupei.

"You're coming too," said Harima grabbing a wheelchair from the corner. "Come on. You can't stay here alone."

Jupei rolled her eyes. Truth be told, was she didn't feel like eating… or doing anything. She wasn't even sure she wanted company, but maybe it would help. Maybe.

* * *

**1300 Hours; October 5****th****, 2010; 34****th**** MASH Regiment, Pusan; South Gyeongsang Province, Republic of Korea**

"It's cold out… today," said Harima in English.

"Yes it is," agreed Fujiwara, "and your English is getting much better Kenji."

"Thank you very much," said Harima. He still hesitated with some words because he couldn't remember them or had trouble pronouncing them and he still had an accent, but it was starting to disappear and being replaced with a more American sounding accent. With a lack of anything other to do they watch Asou, Ishida, and Ikuro trying to walk without their crutches or whatever else they do.

Harima and Fujiwara were in the mess tent. It was getting cold in Korea this time of year. Not near the freezing point yet, but still pretty cold and a descent size wind was blowing in from the sea.

Asou limped into the mess tent and say down. He pulled out a report and began to read what was going on in the war. He read it out loud for the benefit of the others, "Says the entire South Gyeongsang Province. We also control the South Jeolla Province and most of the North Jeolla Province including Kusan. We are encountering fierce resistance in Taegu, North Gyeongsang Province. It seems the Chinese have dug in there. The British and French are having trouble clearing a path to Taejon, Chungcheong Province. The Chinese have dug in there too. The whole fucking war is bogging down."

All those dead and they control only a couple thousand square kilometers of South Korea. That only amounted to a sixth of the country.

"On the positive side most of the main ports are in the parts of the RoK we control," said Asou.

"And on the negative side?" asked Ifukube sitting down.

"We're in a stalemate with the communists."

Pvt. Ifukube Kunitake was one of the newest members of 5th squad. He'd only joined the squad in the final week of training before the invasion. He had the look of someone who lost a lot of weight in a short amount of time, probably during training. He wore thick glasses and had short messy black hair. He had a sort of awkwardness about him, but he seemed to fit in just fine with 5th squad. He had been quiet for most of his time here and it occurred to Harima this was the first time he heard him speak. He has 20 and was pulled out of college according to his file.

"Has anyone seen Miho?" asked Hanai walking into the mess tent.

"Iē," said Kitsumori. "Why?"

"Well, she hasn't been doing that well."

"Can you blame her?" asked Ikuro.

"Iē, but I've been pretty worried about her."

"Well she went through denial, anger, and bargaining… so she's on depression, cool," said Harima punching the air. There was a long silence and then, "That's not a good thing is it?"

Everyone in the room sweat-dropped.

Harima, Kitsumori, and Hanai began to search around the camp. Jupei could be fine… but somehow it didn't seem likely.

After an hour of searching the outside they started to search buildings. They figured she wouldn't be inside the personal quarters of the nurses, surgeons, MPs, or other medical personnel. So they checked the storage sheds.

"Miho are you… oh fuck," said Harima. Jupei was sitting alone in the storage room where they kept items of soldiers being treated. She was sitting against a shelf stacked with uniforms and boots. Directly in front of her was one of the handgun lockers. She seemed to be staring at the various sidearms from small snub-nosed Smith & Wesson revolvers to massive Desert Eagle .50 cals.

"Miho, hey," said Hanai in nervous/false cheerful voice, "how are you? Why don't we go somewhere else, okay?"

Kitsumori and Harima grab either arm of her and led her out away from the gun lockers while Hanai kept talking to her. All three of them horribly aware of the longing look she gave the guns, but she didn't resist or say a word.

* * *

**0900 Hours; October 14****th****, 2010; temporary Japanese Federal Army base, Pusan; South Gyeongsang Province, Republic of Korea**

Jupei was out of therapy. She seemed to be mostly okay, but there was now a fire of rage that burned in her eyes when someone mentioned the North Koreans.

Asou had spent the past week under investigation by the South Koreans and had even appeared before a NATO tribunal due to strong political pressure from the South Korean military. The whole matter was kept very quiet. It was either NATO admits to responsibility for bombing a civilian neighborhood and killing an estimated 110 people or the South Koreans admit they'd nearly doomed the very invasion that was to liberate their nation.

The Japanese raised hell with their North American and European allies saying they were using one of their soldiers as a scapegoat.

In the end the charges were dropped quietly. The media overlooked Asou and 5th squad completely. It wasn't hard when you think about the hundreds of people dying in the siege of Taegu and Taejon; either city had fallen into NATO or South Korean hands.

The situation in the Eastern European Communist Blocs was stabilizing. The Hungarians were still trying to expel the last of the Soviet troops. The Czechoslovakians were put under martial law by the Ukrainians, Poles, and other Soviet nations who were trying to keep the USSR together while the Russians fought on. The world watched nervously knowing the number of nuclear weapons at stake and the fate of a large portion of the world too.

It seemed the war in Korean was getting overlooked more and more by the day, except for the Federation of Japan, the Democratic People's Republic of (North) Korea, the Republic of (South) Korea, and the People's Republic of China. They couldn't ignore the war on their doorsteps. Well… China's attention was being diverted elsewhere because of new protests in the Tibetan autonomous state and the Xinjiang autonomous state (1). However according to reports from command, the internal fighting was the responsibility of the PLA People's Armed Police and it wouldn't take away PLAGF, PLAN, or PLAAF personnel away from Korea.

Asou was getting acquainted with PFC Toyotomi Katase, no relation to **the** Toyotomi Clan (2). Toyotomi was taller than most Japanese, not as tall as Harima or Hanai, but close. He had his hair cut very short to the point you could see his scalp. It was hard to tell whether his hair was dark brown or black because it was so short. He had brown eyes and tattoo on his wrist that said 'ike' which is Japanese for life. He was carrying a Type 89 assault rifle and a radio on his back. He was Kaoji's replacement.

Cpl. Amakasu Noriyori was the new engineer team leader. He was a large man. Messy bleached hair, which was orange. He carried a Type 89 assault rifle and had a generic double-action .45 caliber revolver.

PFC. Mori Ina was a soft spoken woman about 27 years old. She was clearly the oldest of them all. She kept her black hair in a tight bun under her helmet like Jupei and Fujiwara. She also had a natural motherly way about her. She also made sure that everyone brushed their teeth before going to bed and would say things like 'wear you coat or you'll caught or death out there.' Needless to say she quickly earned the nickname 'Oka-chan' (mom). Her weapons were a Colt M4A1 carbine and an H&K USP .45.

Pvt. Tsutsui Junkei was a slightly overweight man with his hair in a ponytail. He'd once or twice mentioned ambitions to being a professional wrestler, but he volunteered to join the Federal Army once he turned 18. He was built like a tank and carried an FN Minimi and no side arm.

Pvt. Shibata Keiji was a delinquent wannabe. He joined the Federal Army thinking he could impress his friends. Basic training seemed to beat from of those delusions out of him and 5th squad was making it clear he doesn't know what he's in for. He carried an H&K UMP .45 and an H&K USP .45.

5th squad was waiting to meet their new platoon leader. 1st Lt. Matsumoto and Captain Hitsugaya were also waiting to meet the new guy.

"What's his name?" asked Matsumoto.

Captain Hitsugaya pulled out a file and said, "His name is Urashima Keitaro (3). He is being transferred out of the 82nd Mechanized Infantry Regiment to us. He is a veteran of the fighting in Korea, Japan, and helped with the linkup with our paratroopers at Gimhae International Airport. He is a student at Tokyo University and came highly recommended."

"Sounds good to me," said Lt. Matsumoto.

"There was one thing. They said in a crisis he moves swiftly and professionally, but in peace time he his clumsy like you've never seen. Or at least that's what they said."

"How bad could it be?"

UH-60J Black Hawk approached the helipad and landed. A couple of soldiers got off and one officer.

A lone man with a 2nd lieutenant insignia walked towards them. He had a pack on and a sack slung over his back. He had a Colt M1911A1 .45 semi-auto handgun at his hip and an unloaded Colt M-16A5 assault rifle in one hand.

He put the rifle and the packs on the ground and walked towards them.

"You must be Captain Hitsugaya and Lt. Matsumoto," greeted Lt. Urashima warmly. "I'm 2nd Lt. Urashima Keitaro."

He had his hand out and took a step towards them. Matsumoto and Hitsugaya tried to give him a word of warning, but it was too late. Lt. Urashima didn't see a pothole in the ground. The toe of his right boot went in and he tripped. He fell straight into Matsumoto's massive breasts. The force of the impact knocked of his glasses which fell in the crevice between her breasts.

"I'm terribly sorry about this," he said pushing off her breast with his hands. "I think my glasses fell in this crack."

Some of the men in stared enviously and the others stared dumbfounded as Urashima reached in Matsumoto's tunic fishing for his glasses.

"Got them," said Urashima triumphantly and putting his glasses on. It only took about four seconds for Urashima to realize where his hands where and the innocent smile he wore faded.

"I'm sorry!" he shouted flinging his arms over his face as though he expected to be hit.

"It's not a problem," said Matsumoto cheerily.

"Really?" asked Urashima uncertainly lowering his arms as though he expected it was some kind of trick and he would be punched into another continent.

"Sure, you file warned us you clumsy and people drop things down there are the time," she said airily.

Urashima gave Matsumoto a concerned look and look to his new superior for answers. Captain Hitsugaya had slapped a hand to his face and shook his head mouthing the words 'don't ask'.

"So anyways, I'm Captain Hitsugaya Tōshirō and this is my second in command 1st Lieutenant Matsumoto Rangiku. This is SSgt. Ugiji of 4th squad, SSgt. Asou of 5th squad, and Sgt. Watanabe of 6th squad. This is your platoon. Good luck," said Captain Hitsugaya patting Urashima on the shoulder and leaving with Lt. Matsumoto.

2nd Lt. Urashima Keitaro was an average height male with dark brown hair and grey eyes. He wore thin wire frame rectangular shaped glasses. He had a friendly smile marred only by the 'thousand yard stare' that anyone who had killed possessed.

"I am 2nd Lieutenant Urashima Keitaro. I am 25 years old and was going to start my 4th year at Tokyo University when the war started. My major was archeology and I have been to digs around the world and I have learned several languages along the way. My archeology teacher and my aunt we former mercenaries and taught me how to fight and outsmart an army. I have been to Tibet, Bosnia, Iraq, and Chechnya on digs so in my past I have had to shoot my way out some situations… it's a long story. Anyways I was transferred out of my regiment to this on and I am your new platoon leader. Any questions?"

Ikuro raised her hand.

"Hai, corporal?"

"You were transferred out of the 82nd?"

"Hai."

"Aren't they up in Taegu?"

"Hai. Command said they needed an experienced officer in another unit and now I'm here."

"What's the fighting like up in Taegu?" asked Asou.

"Ugly, plain and simple. We have pushed the Chinese and North Koreans out of their more fortified positions, but they fight us for every block."

"Do did kill any North Koreans?" asked Jupei savagely. Pvt. Shibata nodded eagerly.

"Lots, but mostly the Chinese hold the lines," answered Lt. Urashima eyeing Jupei with some concern at her eagerness to kill North Koreans.

"Are we going to Taegu?" asked SSgt. Ugiji.

"Possibly. It's that or Taejon or the mountains in between."

A pause.

"Any more questions?"

No one spoke.

"Very well then. You are dismissed."

2nd platoon wandered off, but Jupei felt someone grab his shoulder.

"Walk with me," ordered her new platoon leader.

They walked down the roads between barracks.

"You smoke?" asked Lt. Urashima.

"Iē."

"Neither do I. I tried it once, but didn't like it," said Lt. Urashima conversationally. "So what's your problem?"

"I have no problem, sir," she said, but a note of anger said otherwise.

"You have a death wish."

"Iē, I have a wish to kill," she said.

"It'll end the same either way. You'll get yourself killed," said Lt. Urashima knowingly. Jupei wanted to hit the men, but that fact that he was an officer prevented her. Plus his smile was very friendly and too disarming to the point where her anger started to fade.

"… I may never have kids," she said finally. He seemed like was prepared to listen to any of her problems.

"That's harsh," he said with a vague shrug. "But it's not the end of the world. After all you said you **may** never have kids. I know men and women who defiantly will never have kids. I know people who have lost their minds to the point where they may never interact with the public again. I know people who have lost their ability to walk, to see, to hear, or use their hands. I lost my old perspective of the world. I always thought the world was a place full of hope, but I see I was lying to myself all those years. Reality may be the most devastating weapon of war… still you have a chance that you still are whole, and that's better than most."

Jupei stared at him nervously and finally voice her greatest fear, "I'm not… damaged goods?"

He smiled sadly, "We all are in one way or another. Once you pull the trigger we're damaged beyond repair, but even damaged things can still work and sometimes work better than the unbroken."

Jupei considered this for a while.

"That help?" he asked.

"Hai… it does," she said truthfully.

"Good, then you're dismissed."

He walked off. Leaving Jupei alone. She wasn't the same girl she was when she was drafted. Even before her injury she had worried that she was 'damaged' in a way that her parents and her family and friends would never understand. This injury to her womanhood was only the catalyst to her fears. She was not the same person and never will be, but she could adapt. There was a chance she'll be fine. That was all she needed to know she could be on.

She looked up at the sky which seemed particularly bright and sunny today, "So this is stage 5… acceptance."

* * *

**0700 Hours; October 16****th****, 2010; a temporary Japanese Federal Army Base, Pusan; South Gyeongsang Province, Republic of Korea**

"Major Daijin here to see you sir," said a corporal to Lt. General Honnoji.

"Thank you corporal, let her in," said the Lt. General without looking up from his paperwork. Major Daijin entered, saluted, and then sat in the chair in front of Honnoji's desk.

Lt. General Honnoji was reading the final page of a report. Once he finished he closed the file and pushed it aside before looking up at the 27th Infantry Battalion commander, "Shiori, I have good news and bad news."

"Hai, sir."

"The good news is that the German, American, and Canadian soldiers in Taegu may be able to break the siege and force the enemy to withdraw."

"And the bad news is we are going to Taegu, isn't it?" she asked wryly.

"As usually Shiori you remind me why you earned your rank," said the Lt. General with small smile. "I need you to take these marching orders to the 28th Armor Battalion's commander and 26th Heliborne Battalion's commander."

"Why couldn't you have given this to Colonel Hojo or Lt. Colonel Fūma?"

"Because Colonel Hojo is busy and Lt. Colonel Fūma of the 26th Heliborne has been transferred to the Special Forces," he said standing up and walking to her. He removed the major insignias from her shoulders and put them on his desk. He opened a small box on his desk and pinned a new set of rank insignias. "For your service to the Japanese Federal Army and the Federation of Japan, I see fit to promote you to the rank of Lt. Colonel."

The Japanese Lt. Colonel insignia was a shoulder pad. A green strip with a gold circle at one end by the neck and a set of twin bars at the other end with two stars. Making her a Lt. Colonel meant that she was second in command of the regiment.

"Arigato gozaimasu," she said hoarsely. She couldn't believe that this was happening.

"Iē, zenzen. You did the work Lt. Colonel Daijin. Now make sure those orders are distributed to the rest of the 81st. Gook luck in Taegu. Fighting is still fierce up there."

"You won't be disappointed."

* * *

**0600 Hours; October 17****th****, 2010; a temporary Japanese Federal Army Base, Pusan; South Gyeongsang Province, Republic of Korea**

'Dear Sarah,

Sorry I haven't written for a while, but I've been in a hospital for the past two and a half weeks. We really took a beating. I lost nearly a third of my squad. I won't lie to you; I thought I was going to die that day and almost did. I have had seen my soldiers suffer in the aftermath. I want to tell my parents and my brother, Yuya, that I love them.

One more thing and it is very important. I love you Sarah. You may not know it, but you are one of the kindest most selfless individuals I have ever known. I want to spend as much time as possible after this war. Please wait for me. I will be there one day.

With love,

Hiroyoshi.'

Asou sealed the letter in an envelope and dropped off with the mail. He was changing his priorities. His soldiers' lives survival came first, objectives second. He needed to reach to the people he loved more. He wasn't alone either. Hanai was dropping something in the mail too and Asou was pretty sure he knew who it was to.

* * *

Well the second chapter I have written this week and I only two days. I'm on a roll. I won't promise I will have a chapter tomorrow. I have things to do. I do hope to have a third chapter up before Monday March 25, 2008. I think I can achieve that. I think this story is going to go past chapter 50, but I think it will end before I hit 60. I also have the undisputed longest School Rumble fanfiction on . Not bad for a guy with a learning disability centered around reading and writing, eh?

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. Most of western China is made up of autonomous states like Xinjiang, formerly known as East Turkestan. Xinjiang is made up of mostly Uyghur Chinese who are Chinese-Muslims. Another large portion of western China is Tibet who are mostly made up of Buddhist. Both the Tibetans and Uyghur and other Chinese-Muslims like the Hui are very opposed to being ruled by the Han Chinese who run the Central Government in Beijing. Xinjiang (East Turkestan) and Tibet were invaded by China in the 1950s and have been at odds with China since.

2. The Toyotomi Clan were a very well known family in Japan. Toyotomi Hideyoshi was the successor to Oda Nobunaga and he was the one who first united Japan during the Sengoku Era (Warring States Era). He died shortly after his failed invasion of Korea (unrelated to his death). A civil war broke out in Japan and that gave rise to the Tokugawa Clan and the start of the Edo Era which would last until the Meiji Restoration and the start of the Meiji Era.

3. Urashima Keitaro is the main male protagonist of the anime Love Hina. All rights reversed to Ken Akamatsu author of Love Hina. It was actually a Love Hina fanfiction that inspired this fanfiction.


	45. Chapter 45: The Long Road North

This chapter should put me over 200,000 for sure

This chapter should put me over 200,000 for sure. I know that because I make sure all my chapters in this story are at least 3,000 words (longest chapter I have written was Chapter 36 which is 7,762 words).

So anyways some of you keep commenting to me that you are learning things from this fanfic. I know most of never expected to be educated by School Rumble, but I am a history buff. I can't help myself, I have to teach. Most of my friends tell me to be a teacher. One of my friends actually listed me as a source on his bibliography for an essay he wrote. I love learning about history, geography, culture, religion, ethnicity, language, and how people interact with each other because of these things. Certainly my interests help me with my story.

I don't own any trademarked or copywrite item. Please review and/or tell a friend.

* * *

**Chapter 45: The Long Road North**

"You don't win a war by dying for you country.

You win a war by making the other son of a butch die for his."

General George S. Patton

**1200 Hours; October 17****th****, 2010; Dongdaegu Staion, Taegu; Taegu Special Administrative Province, Republic of Korea**

Taegu, also known as Daegu, is the 4th largest city in the Republic of Korea. Taegu is the capital of the North Gyeongsang Province, but is not really part of the North Gyeongsang Province. Officially, Taegu was its own administrative region like Seoul and answers directly to the central government. Taegu was in a basin between the Palgong Mountains to the north, Biseul Mountains to the south, the foothills of the Gaya Mountains to the west, and a series of hills to the east. Flowing around the northern and eastern edges of the city is the Geumho River which flows west until it merges with Nokdong River which flows into Pusan where it empties into the Strait of Korea.

Taegu is bases its economy on textiles, metals, and machineries. Straightly enough, Taegu has a number of apple farms in the surrounding areas and is moderately well known in the RoK for apples. Taegu before the war was trying to become a fashion center in Eastern Asian because so many clothes were produced in the city.

Taegu was also where in 1950 the US set up the Pusan Perimeter, a desperate last stand against the North Koreans. Waterways, railways, and highways ran through Taegu and could be used to go south or north, pending on who won.

The 81st Armor/Heliborne Regiment dismounted from the train that brought them into Dongdaegu Station which was deep inside Taegu.

One of the first soldiers off was Colonel Hojo Soujiro, commander of the 81st. Before him was Lt. General Müller, acting commander in Taegu.

"Colonel Hojo," said a German leutnant (lieutenant). "It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Leutnant Krauss and I will be translating for Lt. General Müller,"

Colonel Hojo nodded, "It is a pleasure to meet you too Lt. Krauss and Lt. General Müller. I would like to have a SITREP before getting my orders."

"Herr Generalleutnant Müller, Herr Oberst Hojo wants an update on the fighting," said Lt. Krauss.

Lt. General Müller nodded, "We control most of the city. The Americans are pushing for Taegu International Airport, it served as both a civilian airport and a military air base. We hope to use to extend our air defense. My own nation's soldiers are pushing around the mountains in the north, we hope to cut off the enemy's reinforcements who down a valley to the northwest. The Canadians and Turks are trying to push the last Chinese hold outs to the north side of the Geumho River. I am sending you to assist the Canadians."

There was a pause while Lt. Krauss translated.

"I understand," said Colonel Hojo.

For what seemed like the millionth time, Asou found himself in the front seat of a HUMMWV with Yamako at the wheel and Harima driving the second HUMMWV. They were following an M939 deuce-and-a-half truck with 4th squad in it. To 5th squad's left was a Type 89 IFV. Behind them was another M939 with 6th squad inside. The whole regiment was being transported via trucks, HUMMWVs, APCs, IFVs, and even riding on top of tanks.

The latest addition to the 28th Armor Battalion's inventory was the Type 10 medium tank. The Type 10 on the outside looked exactly like the German Leopard 2A5 where as the Type 90 was heavily based on the American M1 Abrams and German Leopard 1. The Type 10 was cheaper and lighter than the Type 90, only weighing about 44 tons to the Type 90's 50.2 tons. It was meant to replace the Type 74s and operate with the Type 90s as lighter weight tank that was easier to transport. The Type 10s had only entered production recently and the Japanese divisions landing in Korea were among the first to receive them.

"Looks like this city has taken a beating," said Asou looking out the window at building that were damaged by artillery fire or scarred by bullet holes. Occasionally they passed rubble piles, derelict tanks, or anti-air emplacements. MP (military police) stood at street corners and had road blocks set up in odd places to catch deserters or soldiers on AWOL (Absent WithOut Leave).

"Hai, it's much warmer here too," said Toyotomi. The basin Taegu was in kept the city a little warmer than other cities which were getting fairly cold. In Korea, October marked the end of the warm months and the beginning of the fall climate.

"Still, I wouldn't go out on patrol without a coat," said Mori pleasantly.

"Hai Oka-chan," they answered dully.

Meanwhile in the following HMMWV Harima was driving as usual with Hanai in the passenger seat and Kitsumori manning the M2 .50 cal. Jupei was sitting in the back with Ikuro and Fujiwara. In the open trunk were Kurosaki and Abarai.

"It has been confirmed that Stalingrad (or Volgograd), has fallen to Ultra-Nationalists forces. The US Embassy staff to Russia has been withdrawn for fears of being attack by Ultra-Nationalists. This is BBC World Service, more news coming after these messages."

5th squad seemed to become accustom to listening to the news when driving. The British Broadcasting Company in 1991 ended the Japanese broadcasting. In January 2010 the BBC World Service recommenced their service to Japanese audiences. Harima had never listened to the BBC until Fujiwara told him about it. So far they had listened to the coverage of the chaos in Eastern Europe.

"Fiona, the Canadians speak English don't they?" asked Hanai.

"The British-Canadians do, but there are a number of French-Canadians out their too. My Oka-san hated them… actually a lot of Americans hate the French-Canadians," said Fujiwara thoughtfully.

"Why?"

"They apparently rude, but I've never dealt with them."

* * *

**1949 Hours; October 17****th****, 2010; 5km south of the Geumho River, Taegu; Taegu Special Administrative Province, Republic of Korea**

The officers of the 27th Battalion were sitting down for a dinner meeting which was basically sitting in a bombed out diner and eating REMs.

"Chinese have set up a line of defense. All we need to do is push through their lines and clear the way for the Canadian 17th Mechanized Infantry Regiment," said Lt. Colonel Daijin.

"What arm they armed with?" asked 2nd Lt. Urashima.

"QBB-95 bullpup light machine guns and the Type-95 bullpup assault rifles. PF-97 AT rocket launchers. Type-85 sub-machine guns. They've also seen soldiers carrying a Type-03 assault rifle, whatever that is."

"It's one of the newest guns being used by the PLA. It is a conventional designed weapon. Has a side folding triangle stock like the AKS-74. Uses the Chinese 5.8x42mm cartridge standardized by the People's Liberation Army. We may be fighting a seasoned unit if they have the Type-03," said Lt. Urashima. "They weren't here when I was in Taegu so they must be fresh soldiers."

"Nothing like good news," said Captain Nara of Dogwood Company sarcastically. "So Lt. Urashima, what do you know about the enemy's defenses?"

"Nothing that will help you. When I was transferred out of the 82nd the square outside this diner was being used a PLAGF firebase," he said shrugging. To further this statement there was a Type 86 122mm field gun left twisted and crumbled at the edge of the square. Now Japanese M101A1 105mm field guns were taking up residence in the square. Two Type 93 SAMs were protecting them from any air attacks.

"The Canadians begin they attack at 0700 hours. The Turks will start their attack simultaneously with the Americans. The Turks and Americans are going to try and link up and secure the area around Taegu International Airport. We are going to attack the PLA's bridgehead. Any questions?" asked Lt. Colonel Daijin in her business tone.

"Will those guns outside battalion HQ support are advance?" asked Lt. Matsumoto.

"Hai, there is also the US 215th Artillery Battalion is within range of our attack, but I can't guarantee they can help us because they'll be busy with other units."

"Air support?" asked Captain Matsuyashi commander of Hollow Company. Although H Company was part of the 28th Armor Battalion and not the 27th, she was supposed to provide armor for D and E Company.

"54th Attack Helicopter Squadron is our primary air support. Thunderbolt-IIs and Tornados are also flying sorties, but only on request."

"One last question ma'am," said Lt. Urashima. "What if we can't breach the enemy lines?"

Lt. Colonel Daijin sighed. She knew all too well the answer to the question, "We try again until we do breach the lines or we get rotated out, which ever comes first. We cannot give ground any more than they can."

* * *

**0705 Hours; October 18****th****, 2010; 4.5km south of the Geumho River, Taegu; Taegu Special Administrative Province, Republic of Korea**

2nd platoon was on foot heading north towards the river. They been walking for a couple of minutes and they had not made contact with the enemy.

One of H Company's Type 10 medium tanks and Two Type 89 IFVs were covering them.

"Don't get too close to the armor," called out Lt. Urashima. "If their destroyed you're fucked over when it blows. Also watch the windows for snipers and machine gunners. The urban war zone is prime for ambushes."

"Sir?" said Asou.

"Mm?"

"Why are you carrying an American rifle?" asked Asou pointing to the M-16A5.

"My old rifle was destroyed and I grabbed this one off a dead GI. It's more accurate than our Type 89 and I see no reason to replace it," he said patting the rifle on the barrel. "Besides your big friend over there with the sunglasses has American rifle, so why not I?"

He gave Asou a smile and walked on. He turned and walked backwards for a little scanning the buildings. His eyes were checking places where he knew the Chinese liked to set up. He turned forwards and stopped in his tracks. 2nd platoon stopped too and the armor seeing their infantry escorts stopping, decided to halt too.

Lt. Urashima spoke in his radio and said, "Hollow 3-1, there is a hostile MG bunker in front of you."

There was a pause and then, "Negative sir, I don't see anything, but a bombed out street."

"Look harder. The rubble pile 80m ahead, left side, there is a gap in the pile. That is a camouflaged MG nest. Fire when ready."

Everyone was crouching down on one knee and placed the butts of their respective weapons against their shoulders ready to fire.

The Type 10 fired a shell at a large pile of rubble up the street. The pile exploded and brick and cinderblock flew through the air. Looking up the street, Harima see the pile collapse as if it were hollow on the inside.

Experience taught 5th squad that when one shot was fired, there was normally a larger reaction from the enemy. This situation was no exception. From inside one of the destroyed buildings on the right side of the street a Chinese machine gun squad opened fire. Chinese riflemen on the floor below them started shooting too.

Feeling an all too familiar feeling of déjà vu, 5th squad scattered for cover.

"Where's Shibata?" called Amakasu.

"I don't… oh shit," said Tsutsui pointing to the soldier in the middle of the street.

"I'll get him," said Mori as if it were no big deal.

Shibata was in the middle of the street completely exposed and shooting off his H&K UMP .45 yelling random phases he probably got from watching war movies. Mori carefully moved towards him, smacked him on the back of the head, grabbed him by the back of the collar of his jacket, and dragged him back while simultaneously scolding him.

"Hasn't anyone ever told you not to play in the street? What if you got hit by a car or run over by a tank or shot by a sniper? Do you think just because we are at war and in a foreign country means we can act like children? Cause let me tell you young man, if you do something like that again I'll take that SMG away from you?" she said pulling him unceremoniously behind low wall that surrounded a street café.

The Type 10 fired a second shell while the Type 89 IFVs pelted anything that moved with 35mm auto-cannons.

Between the shooting and the dust being kicked up it was hard to see, but it was just visible that more PLA soldiers were joining the fight. Kitsumori redirected his M-60E4 to suppress the reinforcements. NATO 7.62x51mm cartridges and NATO 5.52x45mm rounds streaked past Soviet 7.62x39mm cartridges and Chinese 5.8x42mm cartridges heading in the opposite direction. Red and green tracers went up and down the street.

"Left side, TOW launcher!" shouted Lt. Urashima pointing to a team of PLAGF soldiers setting up a HJ-8 wire-guided anti-tank missile launcher on a tripod. Urashima fired off a burst of automatic fire at the AT crew, but was forced to duck behind one of the IFVs by rifle fire.

Chinese soldiers were now starting to suppress the Japanese movements. 2nd platoon was finding themselves being pinned down by incoming fire.

"Toyotomi, get us artillery support!" shouted Asou.

"Hang on," he said calmly. "This is Echo 5-3, Hammer 1 I need artillery on Red 39912 Green 00182. Incendiary rounds, fire for effect."

"…… stand by, fire mission inbound."

Within two minutes the familiar roar of artillery was approaching the 2nd platoon's position. Fireballs exploded setting fire to the Chinese soldiers. 2nd platoon watched horrified as the very flesh of the PLA soldiers burned.

"Hollow 3-1, advance! 4th squad follow!" shouted Lt. Urashima. The Type 10 lurched forwards. The tank commander opened the hatch and manned the M2 machine gun on top of the tank which served as a supposed anti-aircraft weapon on all tanks.

Under Lt. Urashima's continuous encouragements, 2nd platoon kept moving slowly, but steadily. PLAGF soldiers with an anti-tank launcher fired ambushed them from an alley destroying one of the Type 89 IFVs. Soldiers were being wounded or killed by fanatical, but effective Chinese resistance. It appeared that unlike the People's Korean Army Ground Forces, the People's Liberation Army Ground Forces didn't just throw soldiers at NATO. They would ambush and when they started to get overwhelmed they would fall back to attack further up the street.

Eventually they reached a roadblock. The PLA seemed to be bent on making a stand here. Barbed wire prevented infantry from advancing. The remaining Type 89 IFV rolled over the barbed wire and exploded.

"Shit, it's a minefield," groaned Lt. Urashima to himself. 'I have an engineer team, but they won't get close to that field with all that incoming fire… we need support.'

Lt. Urashima whistled to get one of the radiomen's attention and hand singled to get support. A few minutes and another volley of 105mm white phosphorous rounds smashed into the PLA lines. However, the PLA weren't yielding.

"What's the plan lieutenant?" asked SSgt. Ugiji over the radio.

"Either pop smokes and fall back or call in a napalm strike."

"Sounds good to me sir," said Sgt. Watanabe who was completely pinned down by a heavy machine gun.

"Not really because then the street would be impassable to us too... somebody try to call in a cluster bomb strike," ordered Lt. Urashima.

"On it sir, this is Echo 6-3, we're requesting a cluster bomb strike, over," said 6th squad's radioman. He got no response.

"This is Echo 4-3, we need cluster bomb strike, over," said 4th squad's radioman. She got a response.

"This is Raider 6-2, I'm over your area. I need you to mark the target with a red smoke, over."

"Stand by," said Echo 4-3. She threw a red smoke grenade with all her might which landed just at the foot of the roadblock.

"This is Raider 6-2, I see the smoke. Clear the area." An RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force) CF-18A Hornet (1) dived down from high above the Taegu and up the street dropping four CBU-87 cluster bombs. After the Hornet released its munitions it accelerated and flew off to rearm. The CBU-87s broke apart into the smaller bomblits and pelted the PLA position.

Much to Harima's shock and indignation the PLA weren't completely silenced. There were still a few hold outs that survived the bombing run, but refused to stop shooting. That was until what appeared to be a PLA officer shouted ordered at the PLAGF soldiers who popped smokes and retreated.

"2nd platoon keep sharp and cover the engineers! Engineers start clearing mines," barked Lt. Urashima. Amakasu slowly led his engineers out into the open. Tsutsui used bolt cutters to clear the fence. Mori and Shibata pulled out a collapsible metal detector and began to slowly, carefully sweep for mines. Shibata, however, was told to step aside because he was trembling so much he couldn't do his work. He sat against a wall. Harima knew that the harsh reality of war was setting in on him. At first Harima had thought he was an idiot for never understanding the ugliness and shear terror of war, but now he felt pity for the young man.

Lt. Urashima stood in the middle of the street. Thinking out loud he said, "Clever bastards. They know this minefield will hold us up for an hour or so. Oh well."

He walked over to one of the radiomen and directed her to contact Battalion HQ.

"Lt. Colonel, this is 2nd Lt. Urashima. We have encountered stiff resistance, lost both IFVs, and are currently clearing a minefield. 2nd platoon may be held up for about 60 to 90 minutes."

"Copy that. I can detail you a Type 73 APC with a mine-clearing kit and LAV-25s APCs to fill in for the IFVs you lost."

"Arigato ma'am. Can you send an anti-air squad too? I have a feeling the PLAAF may have choppers waiting near the river."

"Hai, we have a squad with Type 91 shoulder launched SAMs. ETA 25 minutes."

* * *

**0840 Hours; October 18****th****, 2010; 4km south of the Geumho River, Taegu; Taegu Special Administrative Province, Republic of Korea**

The Type 73 APC with the mine-clearing kit made quick work of the minefield by using basically carpet bombing the mines so they exploded. They were other methods of clearing mines, but most were meant to clear mines buried underground where as these were on the surface of the asphalt street and painted to blend in.

The anti-air squad Lt. Urashima had requested was merely a regular infantry squad, but two teams carrying the Type 91, the Japanese production version of the US FIM-92 Stinger. The LAV-25 was an 8 wheeled APC with a 25mm auto-cannon and a TOW launcher that the Japanese had recently purchased from the Royal Canadian Army.

They marked the cleared area through the minefield and the Japanese soldiers began their advance again. Asou was well aware of the time they must have lost. Aware of the delay they must have caused the rest of the regiment who were coordinating the assault… or at least trying to.

Harima was scanning rooftops and upper story windows when he saw movement. He saw a man with a Chinese Type 95 assault rifle slung over his back and a walkie-talkie in his hands.

"Scout!" he shouted firing a couple of shots at the forward observer.

Lt. Urashima watched as the observer fell from the roof of a six story office building to the street and smash into the sidewalk with a crunch. The grotesque angle of the man's limbs did not bother Urashima, he'd seen soldiers and civilians die in worse ways. What concerned him was that they were being watched and their progress was being reported to the PLAGF HQ in the area. Any number of things could be happening now: they could have an ambush set up ahead, marking them for artillery, or just sizing up their enemy. All of it was bad. Worse yet, they had little information on the PLA operations in the area.

"And I thought my life was bad before the war," said Lt. Urashima with a sigh and a smile.

* * *

**1358 Hours; October 18****th****, 2010; Geumho River, Taegu; Taegu Special Administrative Province, Republic of Korea**

Harima was rather shocked that the area around the bridge was reduced to a parking lot from air and artillery. It was an even greater shock that the bridge wasn't destroyed. It was a generic concrete bridge that spanned the Geumho River to the outskirts of Taegu at the edge of the Palgong Mountains.

Leopard C2 of the Royal Canadians Army were trying to push through PLAGF Type 69 medium tanks and Type 96 heavy tanks. The Canadians were coming out from the south and southeast.

Chinese howitzers on the north side of the Geumho River were shelling the RCA soldiers and armor.

The Japanese were starting to advance out of the southwest. Chinese Type 80 medium tanks and Type 63 light/amphibious tanks were firing off smoke dischargers to cover the retreating infantry who were regrouping with their fellows defending their bridgehead.

"Captain Hitsugaya, there is a chopper squadron coming in from the north side of the river," said a soldier over the radio.

About a dozen Z-10 attack helicopters plowed across the river and into a volley of machine gun fire from the Canadians.

Asou was trying to get across the piles of rubble that were once buildings. The next thing he knew, 5th squad was at the front on the Canadians left flank.

The Canadian soldiers used a rifle called the C-7A3 assault rifles (2) which were replacing their older C-7A2s. It looked just like the M-16A5 and worked just the same. Their primary light machine gun was the C-6 which was basically the FN MAG, a light machine that was replacing the M-60E4 in NATO including the US Army where it is called the M240.

Asou looked straight into the eyes of a Canadian sergeant major who seemed to be surprised at their sudden appearance. He pointed at the Chinese Type 90 APC that had them pinned. Asou nodded and turned to Hanai, "Get on that APC's flank and destroy it. We'll cover you."

"On it. Let's go Kenji!" shouted Hanai. While most of 5th squad covered their fire team, Hanai and Harima scaled a mountain of cinderblocks. Harima unslung the AT4 from his back and took aim at the Type 90 APC. He fired and struck the APC in its side. Harima and Hanai dashed down the heap of ruins to the where 5th squad was.

The Canadian squad began to slowly advance in a leap frog style attack (3). Asou stood up to follow, but dropped to his belly as a PLAAF Z-10 made a pass at 5th squad. A couple blocks away, the anti-air squad fired two of their Type 91s at the Z-10. One was drawn off course by an IR flare, but the second missile connected.

A second squad of Canadian soldiers pushed up the street. 5th squad followed them up for the bridge.

Harima found the push to be confusing. It was easy enough that he would shoot at Chinese soldiers and machine gunners, move up to Hanai's position as soon as Kitsumori reached his, and repeat. He wasn't even taking aim at the PLA soldiers, but just shooting at their general direction to pin them down. Harima wasn't even sure where the rest of the platoon was let alone Lt. Urashima location.

Harima followed SSgt. Asou to the top of another rubble pile where a Canadian platoon was firing at the Chinese. From this position they were a few meters from the bridge. They were elevated a little above the street. Chinese appeared to be retreating across the bridge. On the north side of the river to the east was more Chinese retreating slowly, but organize; Harima couldn't tell who was the advancing army, but they weren't Americans.

The last of the Chinese tanks and soldiers retreated to the north side of the Geumho River and a Japanese Type 74 medium tank and soldiers were giving chase. Harima, Hanai, Kitsumori, Yamako, and Asou knew what was about to happen because they did the same thing at the Nakdong River. Lt. Urashima, Lt. Matsumoto, and Captain Hitsugaya also knew the grave mistake that platoon made.

**Kaboom!**

Sections of the bridge over the Geumho River fell into the river below taking several soldiers and the Type 74 into the river. Some of the bridge was still standing leaving soldiers stranded.

Within an hour the Chinese were gone. They'd killed some of the stranded soldiers, but at least 18 or 20 soldiers were still alive, but unable to get to either side.

Dogwood Company, Echo Company, and Foxglove Company that made up the 27th Battalion began to regroup.

5th squad was standing at the bridge's edge. The north side of the bridge was in the hands of the Turkish Army. Turkish engineering vehicles had lay down some temporary bridges. Currently they were waiting for another bridge laying vehicle.

The Turks had rescued the stranded Japanese soldiers who were on the north side of the river now.

Some of the Turkish soldiers were standing at their edge of the bridge which was only a few meters away from 5th squad.

"We sure have seen a lot of faces in NATO," said Hanai.

"Hai. Is it me or are they staring at us?" asked Harima.

"The Turks haven't seen a lot of East Asians," said a voice from behind them.

"Lieutenant," said Asou giving Lt. Urashima a salute.

"The Turks," said Lt. Urashima pointing to the Turkish soldiers, "they pretty nice guys. They seem to like us because like them we're pretty different from most of NATO."

"What'd you mean?" asked Harima confused.

"Most NATO nations are in Western Europe. Japan and Turkey are both nations pretty different from the Western Europeans and the Americans. We're also both at the edge of NATO territory. Turkey and Japan are also the only nations in NATO where Christianity isn't the most commonly practiced religion (4)."

The Turkish soldiers wear a similar uniform to the US soldiers. They used the older style camouflage and the PASGT helmets that the US Army and Marine Corps wore from the 1980s until 2003. The standard assault rifle was the H&K G-33 which looked a little like the MP-5, but larger and fired the 5.52x45mm cartridge. The standard light machine gun like the Canadians was the FN MAG. Some were carrying the H&K G-3. A couple of soldiers had M203 grenade launchers attached to their G-33s.

Across the river were Turkish Army Leopard 2A4 and M113 Garvin APCs. These vehicles bore a white crescent moon and star which appeared to be the Turkish Military's insignia.

"Sir, why are you here?" asked Asou.

"Because I was drafted."

"Seriously, why are you here?"

"Because I am apparently the only person in our battalion that speaks Arabic," he said with a shrug. "I picked it up after a few excavations in Arab speaking nations."

* * *

**1930 Hours; October 18****th****, 2010; a NATO field HQ, Taegu; Taegu Special Administrative Provide, Republic of Korea**

"Herr Generalleutenant," said a German attendant.

"Ja?"

"Our forces have cut the highway northward. We have completely secured Taegu."

"Sehr gute (very good)," said Lt. General Müller.

"The citizens of Taegu seem to be celebrating, I don't know why though. The city was destroyed mostly during the fighting, a thousands of soldiers and civilians are dead."

"They are happy because they can rebuild the city and know it's theirs."

The phone rang.

"Hallo (hello)?" answered the Lt. General. "Ja, we secured the city… _was_ (what)? … Wenn (when)? … I understand, I appreciate you telling me, auf wiedersehen."

"Is everything all right mien herr (sir)?"

"Nien (no), the Chinese launched a counter-offensive in the northeastern part of North Jeolla Province and cut off our allies attacking Taejon. They are surrounded and a French unit is preparing to attack to reestablish the supply lines," said Lt. General Müller rubbing his face in exhaustion.

"Und wenn (and when) that fails what do we do?"

"The French aren't that incompetent, they are arrogant and jackasses, but they can fight against nations that aren't Germany or Vietnam."

Both men laughed.

"Besides the Japanese, Belgians, Dutch, British, and US Marine are going to aid them."

"Sounds easy enough."

"It always does. What the this really implies is that the communist aren't out of a fight yet. We have a long road ahead of us northwards before we reach Seoul."

* * *

So ends the Battle of Taegu. I have succeeded in completely three chapters in one week, oo-rah. In other words you may not see another chapter for a while because I have to do homework. Whoever said seniors get less homework should be dragged out into the street and shot.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. The CF-18A Hornet is the Canadian production version of the F-18A Hornet. The CF-18 is the sole fighter plane of the Canadian Forces Air Command which serves as fighter, interceptor, escort, combat patrol, and fighter-bomber. It is expected to be replaced by the F-35 Lightening-II which Canada has expressed interest in buying from the US company Lockheed-Martin.

2. The C-7A3 is a fictional weapon. The Canadian's assault rifle is called the C-7A1 and C-7A2. Both are based on the US M-16 series.

3. The leap frog attack (or retreat) is a basic, but effective infantry maneuver for when under fire. The idea is that the lead soldier runs up to the nearest position with cover and provide covering fire to allow the second soldier to reach his position. The second soldier then covers the first soldier who advances to the next nearest cover while a third soldier goes to the second soldier's position. The idea is that roughly half a group of soldiers can advance while the other half covers them so a column of infantry can move through enemy fire. The leap frog formation requires at least two soldiers and has no real limit to the number of soldiers.

4. Most people in Turkey practice Islam. Most Japanese practice Shinto or Buddhism.


	46. Chapter 46: Armored Cavalry

Well I had a nice spring break

Well I had a nice spring break. Back to school, sigh. I've been reading some of the other School Rumble fanfictions on this website and the problem is that most people do not finish them. There are a lot of pretty good School Rumble fanfics, but I wish that the writers would stick with them. I promise that this story that I am writing will be finished; I've spent too much time on it to give up now. Also there is pretty good fanfic that HarimaAkira-sama is writing called 'Oniisama we Sugoi desu ne!' and it's pretty good. Check it out some time. Another good School Rumble fanfiction I would highly recommend would be an untitled story by a guy named John Biles. His story is extremely long, one of his chapters would be like half the length of my entire story to date, maybe more. It is one of the best fanfics I've ever read. John Biles's story is not on , but just google his name and you should be able to find his story quickly.

To Gin: thanks for your review. I don't know how much I'll expand on Keitaro Urashima in this story. I think I'll elaborate more towards the end or in the sequel. Oh and let me know how you like Army of Two.

To Lord Sivart: I noticed that typo and I'll fix it someday. I'm also sorry to disappoint you, but this will be an Onigiri Faction pairing (Kenji-Yakumo), but you were right that romance is kinda' a secondary for most of the story (I think I start making it more important). Actually I kinda' forgot to include Sawachika Eri… that was my bad sorry.

Speaking of characters I forgot about I don't really remember if I have mentioned Fuyuki Takeichi. Well for Fuyuki fans this chapter is for you.

I don't own any trademarked or copywrite items. Please review and/or tell a friend.

* * *

**Chapter 46: Armored Cavalry**

"The cavalry doesn't always come to the rescue."

Murphy's Laws of Combat

**0800 Hours; October 19****th****, 2010; middle of nowhere, near a highway to Taejon; North Jeolla Province, Republic of Korea**

Click.

"Ah, what a shot," said a young man with light brown hair, glasses, and a camera around his neck.

"Enjoying the view Corporal Fuyuki?" asked Sergeant 1st Class Kagami Shin.

"Hai, just taking a view pictures of the Korean country side."

"Why? We have mountains and rice paddies like that in Japan."

"Hai, but we don't have deserts like this in Japan," said Fuyuki pointing to a desert like in the valley ahead of them that led to another valley that eventually led to Taejon. The mountains in Korea created arid plains in between.

"Breakfast is ready!" shouted Pvt. Otani Shirai a large man with a shaved head. He was crouching over a portable propane stove placed in the shadow of a Mitsubishi Heavy Industry's Type 90 heavy tank.

"You didn't burn it did you?" asked PFC Kozu Yuuka hopping down from the top of the tank's turret.

The four of them crewed Mace 4-7, the callsign of their tank. The Type 90 at its basic was like any NATO tank. It had a driver at the front of the chasse. Fuel and the engine were in the rear of tank's chasse. It had a turret that could rotate 360 degrees. The turret had one main gun and a coaxial gun that was like on most tanks, even the Soviet ones, was a 7.62mm machine gun; NATO however used 7.62x51mm machine guns and the Soviets used a 7.62x54mm machine gun. The main gun was meant to destroy armor or fixed positions and the coaxial gun was to cut down infantry; both guns were operated by the gunner while the assistant gunner loaded the main gun. The tank commander, normally a non-commissioned officer, sat above the gunner and had observation equipment to see the battlefield or he could open the hatch to see the outside. Even with modern technology a tank commanders could generally see better outside, but risked being shot. Also if the tank commander had the hatch open he could operate the anti-air machine gun which was usually a 12.7mm heavy machine gun that in theory could shoot down low flying planes, but was better suited for shooting at helicopters and was normally used against infantry.

Both Soviet and NATO tanks had this set up, but with one notable difference. The Soviet and Chinese tanks had crews of 3 because they use automatic loaders. Tanks with the autoloaders are on late model T-54/55s, most of the T-62s, T-72s, T-80s, T-90s, and the T-95s, so they eliminate the assistant gunner. NATO never adopted the use of the automatic loader because they tended to malfunction, rattled a lot that poorly made ones could cause the round to fall off, and most of all they were much slower than a soldier manually loading the gun. With a person loading the gun a tank could fire 4 to 5 shells for every 1 shell with an automatic loader.

Kozu was the driver. Otani was the assistant gunner. Fuyuki was the gunner. Kagami was the commander.

They sat down on the dirt and started to eat.

"The area ahead is rice patties which we could get stuck in," said Kozu reporting what she was able to see standing on the tank.

"Some of the Chinese tanks are heavier than ours so I doubt we'll run into them there," said Kagami.

"We still have the worry about infantry," said Kozu. "They could ambush us. Besides, the rice patties seem to only stretch roughly one kilometer and then its open plains."

Maneuvering tanks around the Korean Peninsula was a nightmare. The country was mountainous, had several fast flowing rivers, and where the land was flat there was an often massive cities just like in Japan. Unlike Japan, there were open desert like plains in some areas that were perfect for tanks to be used in large numbers.

The valleys were usually areas that both NATO and the PLA fought because they liked to use heavy tanks in battle and the mountainous regions didn't allow for large scale tank battles. NATO soldiers for the past 63 years since the end of the One Year NATO-Soviet War had trained and prepared for large tank battles on the open grasslands and farmlands along the German-Polish border. Chinese soldiers were better train in mountain fighting, but their large heavy tanks still needed more open ground to maximize their capabilities.

"I heard Taegu fell yesterday," said Otani.

"That's good, now if we can only take Taejon," said Kagami with a sigh.

"Kozu, what are you reading?" asked Fuyuki curiously.

"Manga," she said simply.

"Which one?" asked Otani.

"You familiar with a guy called Harima Hario and his assistant Imōto Yakumo?"

"Hai, I remember when his work first appeared as a short comic in a magazine," said Fuyuki. "I don't remember the assistant though."

"Well, her name has only appeared with this series. It's a third volume to a series he started about the beginning of summer."

"What's it about?" asked Kagami.

"A heart broken guy who gets drafted in a war against China and North Korea."

"Gee, I wonder where he got that idea," said Otani sarcastically.

"I think this Harima guy must have been drafted. His accounts of the war are too accurate and too realistic for him not to be in battle. If he was just watching the news back home he would just have a censored report from the media and it wouldn't be this… graphic. I mean… just look at these pictures."

Otani, Fuyuki, and Kagami all looked at the images on the pages. Fuyuki could not help, but feel that three of the main characters looked extremely familiar. One wore large square glasses, second had bluish-black hair that stuck out a little above the forehead, and the third had sunglasses and his hair slicked back, but for some reason Fuyuki just couldn't figure out where he'd seen these men despite it being blatantly obvious.

The drawings of the battles were bloody, but accurate to what Fuyuki had seen. It seemed Harima Hario was neither glorifying nor demonizing the war. He was telling a story of people's lives and the war was just part of it. People who would normally have never met each other and had nothing in common going in, but coming out they were all each other had and how in their bid for survival they were as close as any family. It was something Fuyuki could sympathize and empathize with.

"Harima Hario… Harima… mmm," said Fuyuki out loud. "I know a guy name Harima Kenji… nah, it couldn't be the same guy."

"It's pretty different from most of his works. They were always about a guy trying to win this girl," said Kozu. "Still I love his mangas. I'm such a huge fan. I even help run a fansite for his works."

"I didn't know he had one."

"Well he isn't as famous as Clamp (1) or Nobuhiro Watsuki (2) and he isn't well known outside of the Kanagawa and Tokyo Prefectures, but he has a descent fan base."

"Kozu I hate to interrupt you," said Kagami who sounded like he really wanted to duct tape her mouth shut so he didn't have to hear about her obsession with obscure manga artist, "but we need to get moving."

* * *

**0900 Hours; October 19****th****, 2010; middle of nowhere, near a highway to Taejon; North Jeolla Province, Republic of Korea**

"Stick to the road," said Mace 4-1.

He didn't really have to say it though. It was obvious that the Type 90s shouldn't go into the rice patties where they'd get stuck or hit minefields that could easily be concealed among the rice stalks.

They were leaving the rice patties and approaching a grove of trees. Beyond the trees were the plains.

Kozu was gently steering the Type 90 at 45km/h. As they left the rice patties and the ground beside the road became solid the armor began to spread out. She slowed a little and drove off road. Kagami raised his seat so he could see outside the hatch. He was keeping low in case of snipers. Otani was sitting in his seat inside the turret to one side, he loaded a normal shrapnel round in the chamber in anticipation of infantry, but he was sitting at the ready to switch it out for an anti-tank round. Fuyuki was sitting beside the gun. He had three main monitors in front of him placed side by side and the two side ones angled so the three monitors gave Fuyuki almost a 180 degree view of the area in front of the turret. There was also an optical scope for aiming the guns in case the computerize system failed or lost power; the screens served as a HUD like on a fighter plane and could also be switched between normal view, inferred, and the image intensifier night vision. Kozu had a similar HUD for driving and Kagami had one too, but it had a much wider line of sight and could be rotated a full 360 degrees without the turret turning.

These kinds of HUDs were becoming more common in tanks, IFVs, APCs, self-propelled artillery, AA vehicles, and helicopters made within the last 5 years. Most tanks built before the 1990s or the beginning of the 21st century had cruder versions of these systems, but had narrower lines of sight and was sometimes better to stick one's head outside a hatch. Of course even highly advance tanks like the Type 90 still included hatches that could be opened and optical scopes to see outside just in case the systems failed.

Fuyuki was staring at his HUD. This was a new system only recently introduced by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and had a better IFF. It was much harder to identify land vehicles because of obstructions and natural heat sources. Currently no computerize system existed that could identify infantry other than NATO soldiers who wore IR strobe so close air support could differentiate them from enemy soldiers. For these reasons Fuyuki could not trust the IFF to detect threats and enemies for him all the time.

He used a smaller monitor set above the main HUD to zoom in on the tree line. He was too far away to use thermal vision and it was too bright out to use IR (inferred) vision or image intensifier. In other words he had to rely on his eyes.

They reached the trees. These trees were thick with foliage, but were small and were crushed under the weight and force of the tanks.

No ambush. This was a little surprising for the tank crews who were used to repeated infantry ambushes which the Korean landscape naturally allowed it and which the PKAGF and PLAGF were very good at.

A Type 74 medium tank in front of them exploded.

"Shit!"

"Where the hell did that come from?!"

Kagami scanned the field. The Japanese were coming down from a foothill from the south. Roughly 100m ahead was a highway that NATO had used to supply their forces in Taejon.

A platoon of PLAGF Type 80 medium tanks were sitting in tank bunkers (3) on the hill on the opposite side of the highway.

"Kozu turn right! Fuyuki target third tank from the right!" shouted Kagami was he lowered his seat and closed the hatch; he didn't feel like having his head ripped off by incoming fire from hostile armor.

"Load sabot!" said Fuyuki as he turned the turret to acquire the designated target.

Otani opened the breach, removed the anti-personnel (AP) round, slid open the doors that had the munitions behind them (4), slid the AP round in its tube, pulled out a sabot anti-tank round, shoved it in the chamber, and stepped back.

"Sabot loaded!" said Otani.

"Target locked!" yelled Fuyuki up to Kagami.

"Fire!" ordered Kagami.

Mace 4-7 fired a sabot at a Type 80 Shortly after the round left the barrel, it broke apart and used the additional force to give the projectile an even hire velocity. It punctured the armor and exploded on the side of the Type 80, effectively destroying it.

"Target hostile tank right!"

Otani had a second round loaded in seconds and stood clear.

Once Fuyuki had the enemy tank in his sights, Kagami gave him permission to fire. The shell smashed into the wall of dirt piled protectively around the Type 80. There was an explosion of dirt, but no apparent damage was done to the enemy tank.

"Fuyuki, infantry 10 degrees left. Take 'em out. Fire when ready."

"Hai."

Fuyuki turned the turret. He used the smaller monitor above the HUD to zoom in and get a better look at a trench where PLAGF infantry were. Fuyuki squeezed the trigger for the coaxial gun and fired a burst of 7.62x51mm rounds. He saw some spurts of blood and soldiers fall out of sight, but he couldn't tell if he was killing any of them. Fuyuki was experienced enough to guess he had killed 4 or 5 soldiers.

"Kozu, turn left and bring us onto the road."

"On it!"

This was one of the hard parts of being a tank gunner. You had to be able to aim and compensate for sudden movements.

Japanese mech infantry were being deployed from APCs and IFVs. Under the support of Japanese armor they began to push for the enemy's defenses.

Suddenly the PLAGF soldiers climbed out of their trenches and began to fall back to higher ground. Although they had popped some smoke, high winds were blowing across the plains and clearing away the smoke.

"Fire at will!" shouted Kagami.

Otani loaded an AP around. Fuyuki fired it while firing short bursts of machine gun rounds. The AP round exploded in midair and showered the enemy with shrapnel.

'Well, here's something I don't want pictures of,' he thought dryly at the slaughter of soldiers. Although he couldn't hear much over the sounds of the guns or the engine and the radio, he could imagine the screams of pain and terror.

"Enemy reinforcements! Coming from the north!" shouted someone over the radio.

**BAM!**

The Mace 4-7 shuddered as a round hit them. The display that showed the tanks status showed virtually no damage.

"Kozu! Turn towards the enemy!" ordered Kagami wanting to prevent the broad side of the tank from being exposed. The tank that fired upon Mace 4-7 was a Type 62 light tank; it was quickly destroyed by Mace 2-8.

Fuyuki's HUD was showing five Type 62 light tanks, two Type 80 medium tanks, seven unidentified medium tanks, one Type 96 heavy tank, and three unidentified heavy tanks.

"Target the Type 96!" shouted Kagami highlighting the tank in question.

Otani loaded a HEAT round. Fuyuki took aim at where the chasse and the turret were joined. He fired. The shell hit where the driver was. Unfortunately, front of the chasse and the front of the turret were where tanks were best protected. The shell was deflected upwards where it exploded harmlessly. To make matters worse, the Type 96 turned to face Mace 4-7.

"Shit. Kozu reverse 20 degrees right!" shouted Kagami as he fired off the smoke dischargers to hide them from view. An 85mm shell from a light tank was something the armor on the Type 90 could take, but a 125mm shell from a heavy tank could rip right through them.

Fuyuki's HUD was now useless since he no loner had any visual on the enemy and no one was marking targets with laser designators.

The winds blowing out of the north soon cleared the smoke screen. They'd lost their visual on the Type 96, but Fuyuki had a Type 85-II heavy tank's broad side in his sights. He fired a HEAT at it. Fuyuki hit it in the side. There was an explosion. The Type 85-II was still moving, but now it had a large hole in the side and smoke was curling out of it. The Type 85-II turned for a crevasse where the crew would probably ditch the tank.

"Friendlies coming up the road from the west," said Mace leader over the radio, "looks like they're elements of the 30th Royal Guards Armor Division."

Kagami turned the cameras to see the incoming British. Challenger 2 heavy tanks and Chieftain Mk. 5 medium tanks were making their way towards the battle. A squadron of WAH-64 Apaches flew over the foothills to the northeast to attack Chinese tanks moving to attack the Japanese flank.

More Chinese armor was moving down from the north. It seems the original defenders had called for help. The Japanese were being caught between their British allies coming from the south and the Chinese reinforcements coming out of the north and northwest.

"Bandits! Coming out of the north!" screamed someone over the radio.

Fuyuki looked up to see a flight of Q-5 Fantans. Kagami prepared to fire off the smoke dischargers again and Kozu turned the tank so it was traveling perpendicular to the Fantans. Tanks weren't equipped to shoot down planes.

The Fantans fired a barrage of free-flight rockets at the Japanese. Despite Type 87 AA-vehicles and Type 93 mobile SAMs, the PLAAF fighter-bombers ripped through an entire platoon (5) of Japanese armor.

"Holy shit, there goes the center of our line!" shouted someone.

"Close the gap! Don't let the Chinese break through us!" shouted Mace 4-1.

"Where is our air support?" asked Mace 4-3.

"The British choppers broke off to R and R (6)."

"Type 99 2 O'clock!" yelled Kagami to Fuyuki. Fuyuki turned to engage the Chinese heavy tank. He fired a sabot at the Type 99. He hit the tank in the turret. It exploded, but didn't seem to cause any visible damage.

"Hurry! Load another…"

**Kaboom!**

The Type 99 fired its 125mm gun and hit Mace 4-7 in the side. The tank's right track and some of the wheel were flashing red on the status monitor. Kozu pushed at the controls, but the right track was completely out of commission and wouldn't respond.

"Sir! We can't move!" she shouted Kozu.

"Fuck," growled Kagami to himself. He grabbed the spoke into the microphone mounted on his helmet, "Mace 4-1, this is Mace 4-7. We're out of commission an we're bailing out, over."

"4-1 copies, get out of there."

"Okay guys! Bail out!"

Kozu pushed open the hatch above the driver's seat and climbed out. Kagami opened the commander's hatch and Fuyuki opened the hatch next to it which was for the gunners.

Fuyuki jumped down to the rear of the tank where Kozu, Otani, and Kagami gathered. Otani had a Remington 870 12-guage shotgun and the others had H&K UMP .45 sub-machine guns. They weren't infantrymen; they didn't carry a lot of ammunition. They had only two frag grenades and twelve smoke grenades between the four of them. Otani had 8 shells in the Remington 870 and another 24 shells. Kozu, Fuyuki, and Kagami each only had four clips plus one already loaded in their weapons.

"We can't stay here!" shouted Otani.

"We can't abandon the tank either!" shouted Kagami. NATO tanks were not only technologically superior then their Soviet or Chinese counter-parts, they were also much more expensive and more complex. The Type 90 was in fact the most expensive tank to ever enter mass production to this date. Although the tank wasn't able to move, the body, turret, engine, and cab were completely in tact. Only the track was damaged and a recovery vehicle could fix that fairly quickly (7). Standard NATO protocol was if possible to protect tanks like the Abrams or Challengers until they could be recovered for repairs.

Fuyuki edged towards the corner of the tank. He leaned towards the corner, but ducked back as a 5.8x42mm round ricocheted off the tank and nearly into his eye. PLAGF heavy assault mechanized infantry were advancing on Mace 4-7's position. They were heavier flak vests than the rapid assault infantry; these soldiers were geared to survive battle with infantry support by armor. The Japanese tanks and mech infantry were spread thin as they tried to hold their lines against the PLA counter-assault. Mace 4-7 was alone and their allies were in no position to aid them.

"Conserve ammo and good luck to you all," said Kagami.

Fuyuki fired single .45 caliber armored piercing cartridges at the Chinese infantry. The Chinese fired back with fully automatic bursts of rifle cartridges with superior accuracy over the pistol rounds the SMGs the Mace 4-7's crew used. Otani wasn't even bothering the fire his shotgun because the PLA mech infantry were outside of his range and he would merely be wasting valuable ammo.

"This is no good! They better armed then us!" shouted Fuyuki over the roaring battle.

"You got a better idea?!" asked Otani.

Fuyuki looked up at the turret for a second and then set down his SMG and clips. "I think so, but it'll probably get me killed!"

"Go ahead, we're fucked over anyways!" said Kagami.

Fuyuki climbed onto the rear of the tank keeping as low a possible. He then climbed onto the rear of turret. Onto of the tank in front of the commander's hatch was the anti-air machine gun. It was Browning M2 12.7x99mm (.50 caliber) heavy machine gun, licensed by Sumitomo Heavy Industries for production for the Japanese Federal Armed Forces. The M2 could rip through infantry and even lightly armored vehicles. It could repel the Chinese platoon attacking them.

Fuyuki started to climb onto the turret, but was nearly shot up by Chinese riflemen who saw him trying to get to the HMG. Fuyuki crouched down behind the turret as the PLAGF mech soldiers continued to keep him pinned knowing what would happen if he reached it.

"I'm pinned! Throw a grenade!" he shouted.

Kagami tossed an M67 fragmentation grenade at the mech infantry. There was no cover or protection other than disabled tank, trenches the Chinese dug, craters from the battle, or a couple of dried up creek beds. The Chinese soldiers attacking Mace 4-7 had no choice, but to scatter.

Fuyuki had a leap for the M2, he cocked the hammer, chambered a round, and aligned a Chinese soldier in his sights. The M2 made a loud thud like banging noise with every shot. It jerked back hard with every shot. The Chinese platoon leader that was attacking Mace 4-7 blew into a whistle and waved to his soldiers to retreat. Fuyuki mowed down the slower soldiers. They seemed to crumple and die with only one or two shots from the M2. Smoke billowed out from smoke grenades the Chinese laid down to cover their withdrawal.

The smoke dispersed as the wind blew it away. Fuyuki stared. He could see the battlefield perfectly. He could see the sea of Chinese armor coming out of the north. A column of stubborn British, Dutch, and Belgian armor was pushing up along the highway. A fresh Japanese tank company was coming from the east.

Fuyuki raised his camera. He stared at the smoke, the fire, the tracers, the carnage… the war. There was a small beep followed by a click.

USAF A-10 Thunderbolt-IIs streaked across the sky and strafed the Chinese armor with AGM-65 Mavericks and 30mm GUA-8A gatling cannon fire. Fuyuki took pictures rapidly catching the sea of steel being turned into a sea of flames.

F-15E Strike Eagles strafed the Chinese forward lines with CBU-87 Cluster Bombs. Chinese Type 95 AA-vehicles forced several strike fighters to abort their attack runs and even shot down three planes.

The valley was ablaze.

* * *

**1700 Hours; October 19****th****, 2010; middle of nowhere, near a highway to Taejon; North Jeolla Province, Republic of Korea**

"Okay, this here shoulda' get ya'll runnin' again," said a mechanic who spoke with an Osakan accent. He and his team were trying to keep as many tanks damaged in the battle functioning as possible.

"Arigato," said an exhausted Kagami.

Loud blasts were going off on top of the hill they were on. Not from incoming fire, but outgoing fire. The British had set up M777 155mm howitzers and were shelling the Chinese.

Fuyuki had no idea if they were winning or not.

'They must be,' he thought judging by the number of non-combat military vehicles heading up the highway, trucks with food and munitions, radar and communication vehicles, and heading down the road were ambulances.

No one knew what was the fate of Taejon was yet. All they knew was that the British, Dutch, Japanese, and Belgians were pushing up from the south. The French, Albanians, Greeks, South Koreans, Italians, and Austrians were pushing up at Taejon from the southeast. In the North Gyeongsang Province the Germans, Canadians, Americans, and Turks along with additional British, Japanese, and South Korean troops were setting up a perimeter around Taegu.

* * *

I know this isn't a very long chapter. Plot wise I know this chapter isn't that interesting. I really couldn't work with Fuyuki and I wasn't really sure how to use him in my story. Oh well, at the very least I hope this chapter will inform you on the life of the tank corps.

Ahgwa seems to want a chapter less about war and more about the civilian lives. I haven't really been sure what to do, but the other day I got an idea. I haven't really done an entire chapter where Yakumo (one of my favorite characters) is the focus. She's a fun character to work with in terms of plot and character development. I don't think I've done enough with her and it's about time for her to have a day in my story.

Coming soon: Chapter 47… uh I haven't thought of a title yet… or written it yet.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. Clamp is the author of Chobits and Card Captor Sakura.

2. Nobuhiro Watsuki is the author of Rurouni Kenshin.

3. A tank bunker is basically a foxhole large enough to put a tank in. Like the name implies it basically uses a tank as a makeshift bunker. It's usually deep enough so that some of the tank's weakest spots (tracks, rear, etc) were underground. Often sandbags or a pile of dirt was placed around the tank for additional protection. Also a good tank bunker would have a ramp in the rear so that the tank could be backed out in the event of a retreat.

4. All tanks keep the munitions in the back of the turret (turrets are well armored and are hard to penetrate). A number of tanks have a steel door that protects the crew if the munitions store explodes. Some tanks like the Abrams have it that the doors slid close on their own to further protect the crew.

5. An armor unit is not the same size or structure as regular infantry units. It should be noted that I am describing the US Armed Forces structure which is similar to other NATO nations (Soviets, Chinese use different structures). An armored squad to my understanding is 4 vehicles since a standard NATO tank has a crew of 4 which totals 16 soldiers; tanks are commanded by non-commissioned officers. A platoon would be about two to four squads. An armored company may vary in size because they usually have an infantry platoon or two assigned to them to support the armor.

6. Normally we use the term R and R as a shorten term for 'rest and relaxation'. In the case of choppers or planes it would mean 'rearm and refuel'.

7. Damage to the track (sometimes called a caterpillar) is a common place for a tank to be attacked and disabled. Naturally, militaries have developed ways to quickly fix the tracks and get a tank rolling again.


	47. Chapter 47: Worlds Apart

I'm sure some of you didn't enjoy the last chapter

I'm sure some of you didn't enjoy the last chapter. Yeah, well sorry about that, but I hope maybe you learned something. I have higher hopes for this chapter. I haven't felt to well lately. So it may be a little bit until the next chapter.

I also finally got around to buying one of Tom Clancy's novels after hearing about them. I've seen the movie the Hunt for Red October and I enjoyed it, but I never read the books. I bought Red Storm Rising, his second novel after writing the Hunt for Red October. I am enjoying the book; it's about the Soviet Union having a gas/oil crisis after a terrorist attack on one of their biggest refineries. The Soviets decide the only way to save their economy is to invade the Middle East, but they new that would provoke a NATO attack so the Soviets attack NATO. If you are enjoying this story then you will probably enjoy Red Storm Rising which you can find quite easily in most book stores.

As promised last chapter this will be a special chapter dedicated to one of my favorite characters Tsukamoto Yakumo. As a little fun fact Yakumo is translates into English as 'Eight Clouds'. The character 'Ya' is the same character as 'Hachi' which is Japanese for the number eight. Kumo is the Japanese word for cloud. Tenma's name seems to translate (I may be wrong) as 'Full Heaven' or something along those lines. The first character I know for sure mean's heaven. There is some question over the second charater, but I think it is 'Man' which means fill or full as in 'full moon'.

A special thank you to aznblackhowling for your review and adding me to your favorites. I now have four people who have listed this story on their favorites.

I don't own any copywrite or trademarked item. Please review and/or tell a friend.

* * *

**Chapter 47: Worlds Apart**

"The world between soldiers and civilians couldn't be any more difference.

They're like alien planets from each other."

Something my government teacher says, he's an ex-Marine

**0530 Hours; October 20****th****, 2010; Tsukamoto Residence, Yagami; Kanagawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

A young beautiful 17 year old girl gently rose out of bed and turned off her alarm clock. She sighed and slid out of her bed.

"Ohaiyo, Iori," said Tsukamoto Yakumo to her cat. Iori was a black cat with a cross shaped scar on his forehead. Yakumo had owned the cat for about two years when she found him during her first year in high school. It was abandoned and living around Yagami Shrine. Yakumo suspected he'd been abused due to his lack of trust towards people and the scar. Iori lived with the Tsukamotos for a while, though he wasn't too fond of Tenma, he was generally a friendly, if not distant, cat that slept in Yakumo's room.

Yakumo stepped into the bathroom and began to unbutton the shirt of her pajamas and removed the pajama bottom. She then turned on the water and stepped into the shower. Yakumo enjoyed peace and serenity with a passion. She rose early in the morning so she could prepare her sister and Mai's lunches and to enjoy the house before the other two awoke.

The water was pleasantly warm. She used the handheld showerhead, which were common place in more modern Japanese homes, to rinse her body. She picked up a bar of soap and a nylon scrub brush. She scrubbed down her delicate, smooth skin. She scrubbed her arms, her flat stomach, her slender legs, and her C cup breasts, all things that attracted far more attention than she wanted. She rinsed off the suds. Next she poured some shampoo in her hand and then proceeded to wash her hair. Yakumo washed out her black hair. Finally, Yakumo grabbed a small can of shaving cream and a razor blade and began to shave her legs and arm pits.

She stepped out of the shower, dried off, wrapped a towel around herself, and walked back to her room. She slipped on some simple white cotton panties and a matching white cotton bra. Then pulled on the red pleated skirt and secured it in place. She then pulled on the long sleeve white collared shirt and long sleeve light brown blazer that made up the girls winter uniform at Yagami High School. She tied the red string bow around her collar.

Yakumo returned to the bathroom and brushed her teeth. She went through the general female hygiene before leaving the bathroom and passing a sleepy Mai who had just woken up and heading to the bathroom. Yakumo smiled down at her as she passed. Yakumo was fond of Mai because she was such a sweet girl… or maybe it was because she was important to Harima.

Yakumo walked into the kitchen. It was about 6:00 am. Putting on an apron she, began to make the bentos (boxed lunches) for Mai, Tenma, and herself. Even though the college Tenma attended had allowed its students eat off campus, Tenma still preferred her younger sister's cooking most days.

She tied up her shiny black hair so it wouldn't get in her way while cooking. Yakumo had been letting her hair grow out a little and now it was about 3cm longer. She'd even thought of tying some strands of hair into two thin pigtails like her older sister, but feared her motives would be too obvious. It was bad enough that she was having dreams about **him**. Some of these dreams weren't quite as innocent as they'd been. Although they didn't go far, Yakumo would wake up in the morning or even the middle of the night with her body sweaty and her womanhood wet. This was all too new to Yakumo, the feelings of sexual attraction and arousal scared her slightly and made her feel more confused and self-conscious around boys than before, if that was possible. Yakumo wondered what facing the man she had these dreams about would be like. She knew in the dark of her heart that she would fall apart.

The rice ready and poured it into the containers. She then put in a couple of chicken croquets and curry. Croquets were a little unusual to have with curry, but she and the others didn't seem to mind.

Next was breakfast. Breakfast for the Tsukamoto Household was a mix of traditional Japanese and Western foods. It consisted of rice, fried and salted fish, natto (fermented soy bean), miso soup, a Japanese style omelet, and toast.

It was 6:50 am when Yakumo finished laying out breakfast on the low living room table. Mai strolled into the room in her uniform followed by Tenma who looked as if she was sleepwalking. Tenma who wasn't really awake yet walked into the doorframe. She walked into it a second and third time before she finally opened her eyes and walked into the living room.

Yakumo turned on the TV and watched the news.

"French led force last night managed to reconnect the cut off British led force laying siege to Taejon, a large city in the west part of the Republic of Korea. This offensive was part taken by our 4th Armored Division who help led a daring assault on the Chinese lines."

"Was fighting the bad out their?" asked an anchorwoman.

"Hai, the Chinese were actually launching an attack of their own when the NATO launched theirs. So we had two pretty large groups run into each other in an open area," said the male reporter.

"So it was a big battle?"

"It was actually three battles happening simultaneously. One of the European commanders said that this is one of the largest tank battles since the 1990 Gulf War between a UN Coalition and the Iraqi Army."

"How many is that?"

"We're talking hundreds of tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and armored personnel carriers in addition to couple thousand mechanized infantry and heliborne infantry as well as numerous helicopters and fighter-bombers."

"So, does NATO believe we are winning?"

"I spoke with General Hanson of British Royal Army, he's in command of the British soldiers and acting commander of the attack on Taejon. He says it is not a matter of 'if' we can win. He says it's a matter of when we win which seems to be the big question. All of NATO, including our own nation's commanders, agrees with the growing crisis Eastern Europe with civil war in Russia and the threat to the NATO state Kosovo from Yugoslavia that we need to end this war as soon as possible."

"This was bound to happen sooner or later. Other problems in the world would emerge and require NATO's attention. The only reason NATO has committed resources in Eastern Asia is because they didn't have other conflicts to worry about since the US pulled out of Iraq and NATO pulled out of Afghanistan," said Mai quietly. Mai had been pretty depressed since Harima's letter. Only four members of the original squad that brought her from Korea to Japan were left alive. Her smile had returned. Mai was used to loss, it was pretty much the story of her life since the start of the war: her home, her old friends, her country, and her entire biological family.

Yakumo envied the 11 year old girl for her strength and ability to stand tall in the face of events that would break men and women much older.

The news then cut to a middle-aged man who held a couple of pieces of paper, "In other news, the western Soviet republics of Romania, the Ukraine, Poland, and Belarus have reportedly stabilized the situation Czechoslovakia and assure German Chancellor Anne Strömvall that there will be no more rouge units attacking Germany, Italy, or Austria. Germany and Austria were attacked by renegade Soviet soldiers who attacked without the orders or consent of their superiors in Moscow as the civil war in Russia continues. The western Soviet Blocs along with Russian troops based in Eastern Europe are currently trying to convince Hungary to peacefully return to the USSR."

"That won't end well," said Mai.

"Why not?" asked Tenma.

"Hungarians don't like being subservient to the Russians. About 50 years ago they revolted against the Soviets."

"And?"

"About a week later the Soviet Army stormed Hungary and slaughtered the people in the Hungarians capitol."

"Would they do that again?" asked Yakumo. Mai seemed to know more about the Westerners than Tenma or Yakumo.

"I don't know… with open civil war in Russia the whole Soviet system is in turmoil because Russia is in charge of Soviet Union. The Eastern European Communist Blocs seem to be trying to keep the Union together along with the Russian commanders who are waiting to see how the war ends. They may actually attack Hungary on their own."

The three of them finished breakfast and left for their respective schools. They walked down the street to the town square where Yagami JR East Station which serviced the city's commuter trains and JR East trains for the Sagami River Line and other trains to Yokohama and one to Tokyo. Tenma took the 7:20 JR East local train to Atsugi which was about a half hour train ride from Yagami.

"Nee-san you have a good day," said Yakumo.

"Don't you worry Yakumo, if there is one thing I know its Japanese History," she said proudly, which was true. Yakumo smiled at her sister's resilience and lack of self-consciousness. She seemed so much more fearless than Yakumo was, which one of the reasons Yakumo so loved and adored her older sister.

Yakumo walked with Mai to Yagami Elementary School where Mai was a 5th year student (5th grade in US). Mai met up with her friend Sachi and walked off to their school with a small group of girls. Yakumo was happy to see Mai was making new friends. Another thing Yakumo envied about Mai, she was able to make friends with people and was more socially confident than Yakumo.

Yakumo walked alone to Yagami High School. She approached the gate and walked onto the school's grounds, excruciatingly well aware of the stares she drew. It had not seemed possible, but Yakumo was getting more attention than ever. With both Harima and Hanai away, it seemed that there was no competition for her, her being a 3rd year high school student also added to her popularity, and growing her hair out also attracted more stares. Yakumo walked to class 3-B and sat down. Sarah was not in yet, but she would be in later in the day. Sarah was house-sitting again for Asou-sempai again, a task she'd taken even more seriously since she got a very special letter from him. Yakumo had envied Sarah so much to get a letter like that. She wished Harima would send her a love letter, but it seemed Harima didn't view her more than his best friend. That was the ultimate bitter irony that Yakumo was trying to get attention of a man who wasn't here to see how hard she was trying.

Of course, this was partly of her own doing. In the past Yakumo had made some vague efforts to aid Harima with his quest for Tenma, she'd stood aside in the face of Sawachika-sempai for a brief period of time, and now when she had no obstacles in her way she'd choked and nearly lost her chance to ever confess to Harima when was nearly killed. Yakumo just couldn't seem to get the words out.

Harima Kenji was a delinquent. But he was more than that. She was one of the first people to truly appreciate the true Harima. Something no one had ever known. The Harima who loved animals, the Harima who wrote manga, the Harima who face the world for the people he loved or helped him, and the Harima she loved with all her heart for two long years. He was special, and he was special to her.

Yakumo sat through her first period, which was Japanese History. Yakumo was not as good at this subject as her sister, but she was good enough to get high grades.

Next was Art Class which Yakumo took very seriously as an aspiring manga-assistant writing under the pen name Imōto Yakumo. Harima had insisted that she'd get credit for her help since he largely depended on her. Yakumo decided to keep her given name and use Imōto (little sister), the name Harima had called her for over a year and a half because it seemed fitting.

Art was followed by PE (Physical Education) which was never a fun experience for Yakumo because the boys and a couple fan girls would stare shamelessly at her in the white T-shirt and reddish-burgundy shorts.

'Why does everyone, but Kenji-san stare at me?' she wondered sadly. 'Then again, one of the reasons I fell in love with Kenji-san because he doesn't stare at me like an object.'

Following fourth period which was Math Class. Yakumo was smart enough to make it to the advance classes, calculus. She went through a pop quiz on marginal costs and optimization of volume. She turned in her quiz and sat quietly staring out the window until the bell rang.

Lunch was one of Yakumo's favorite times of the day. She could seek refuge from the school in the Tea Club, which she was now president of after Takano Akira graduated.

Yakumo walked into the Tea Club room and was greeted by one of the 1st year students that had just joined. Yakumo straightened out the picture of last year's Tea Club which consisted of former Tea Club President Takano Akira, Tsukamoto Yakumo, Adiemus Sarah, Nara Kentaro who was the only male member of the Tea Club, and Harima Kenji who wasn't an official member, but spent most of his time here writing his manga in secret from the rest of the school. Only the Tea Club, Harima's squad, Mai, Tenma, and Karasuma had ever known the true identities of Harima Hario and Imōto Yakumo for one reason or another.

The current Tea Club consisted of Yakumo, Sarah, two first years, and one second year, all girls.

Yakumo sat down at the main table and opened a manila envelope. She was going to turn this and the other chapters in to Gotō Yūzan, the Chief Editor. The 4th volume of this series she and Harima been working on seemed to cover the Battle of Shinomoseki. Yakumo flipped through it curiously. She found the descriptions of the foreign soldiers fascinating. The Westerners were nothing like she'd imaged, they were much more diverse than she had thought. Yakumo had never known the variety of people living in the West, particularly the United States. Yakumo also found the images of violence appalling, but she knew she was seeing what Harima saw. Harima drew the things he experienced as he saw them; this was Yakumo's window into his world.

"Konnichiwa, (good afternoon) Yakumo," said Sarah walking into the Tea Club and taking a seat.

"Konnichiwa, Sarah," said Yakumo kindly, happy to see her best friend.

"This is for you," said Sarah handing Yakumo a letter. Sarah sat down on the opposite side of the table and read her own letter from Asou happily.

Yakumo opened the letter and read:

'Dear Yakumo-san,

I'm writing to you from Taegu again. We're holding a defensive perimeter around the southern part of the province. It seems the Chinese battle strategy is to attack between Taejon and Taegu so we can't advance any further. Captain Hitsugaya is pretty frustrated with how little progress were making while the South Koreans take their sweet time moving up north.

Some of the other units report seeing the PLA moving around up north of us, but we don't know what they are doing. I'm bored. Not much else to do, but practice English with Fiona-san and hang out with the Turkish soldiers. They don't speak Japanese, but they are pretty friendly to us. They're pretty different from most of NATO like us. Lt. Urashima was telling me about a trip he took to the Turkish capitol Istanbul. He says it's a beautiful city fill of ancient shrines and architecture.

Anyways, life ain't too interesting for us right now. We have mostly dug trenches, cleared roads, helped civilians dig out people buried under rubble, and go on occasional patrols. There is also some talk of us getting medals for holding the line at Pusan. They say I might get the Order of the Sacred Treasure 1st Class and Asou may get the Order of the Rising Sun 8th Class (1).

Oh well, it's nice to not have people shooting at us, but I wish we were moving north so we can end this war, or get something better to eat than these REMs they feed us.

Sincerely,

Kenji'

Yakumo sighed. What had she expected? An undying declaration of love? Still it was nice to hear from him.

* * *

**1530 Hours; October 20****th****, 2010; Yagami High School, Yagami; Kanagawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

Yakumo walked with Sarah to the school's gate. Sarah was walking about some of today's events. Yakumo smiled and nodded politely at the correct intervals. They said their good-byes and walked to their respective destinations. Sarah walked off to the Catholic Church where she volunteered. Yakumo walked to the commuter rail station and boarded a train to the downtown area.

Yakumo hung onto the leather loop hanging from the ceiling of the car. The train was packed with students getting out of school and heading to their part-time jobs or cram schools.

Once she was deep in the business district of Yagami, Yakumo got off the train and walked a couple of blocks to a massive office building. In front of her she clutched her school bag with both hands. Inside was the next volume.

Yakumo walked through the glass double-doors, pass a security guard who recognized her on sight and let her pass, and into an elevator. She rode crowed in the elevator which was made even more uncomfortable by the middle-aged guy trying to look down the shirt of her school uniform. If Yakumo were a different person she would have probably have slugged the man, but it was too crowed to even do that.

Once at the top floor she quickly walked to the Chief Editor's office. She was greeted by the nice young junior editor, who she and Harima mostly dealt with, but this series was turning into the company's biggest seller and now she was supposed to deliver all new copies directly to the Chief Editor.

She arrived in front of the oversized doors and knocked.

"Enter!" bellowed a loud gruff male voice.

"Konnichiwa," said Yakumo politely as she entered the door. Chief Editor Gotō was a man in his late 50s that stood taller than anyone Yakumo knew. She however wasn't intimidated by his appearance, she could see like with Harima, that Chief Editor Gotō was nicer than he appeared or led on to be.

To Yakumo's surprise, she saw she wasn't alone. There was a young woman with dark brownish-black hair reading the third installment to the series Harima and Yakumo had been writing. She turned upon hearing Yakumo enter the room, stood, and bowed politely.

The woman looked to be around 18 or 19. She wore a narrow ankle length black skirt, a light sky blue button collar shirt, and a black blazer. Her hair was tied in a knot on the back of her head. She had a small smattering of freckles that were only noticeable at close range on her slightly rosy cheeks and nose. Her eyes were green with specs of blue and she had blue thick frame glasses with small rectangular panes that gave her a look of class and intelligence and complimented her appearance. Her body was built similarly to Yakumo's, but she was thinner and taller than Yakumo. She was also a Westerner.

"Tsukamoto-san, this is Heckler Emma from the United States. One of our junior editors was in the American and read her manga. We our currently trying to expand in Western markets without using American or Canadian companies for translating. We hope that Heckler-san can help us with that."

"Konnichiwa Tsukamoto-san. Watashi wa namae no Heckler Emma desu, yoroshiku (My name is Emma Heckler, nice to meet you)," said Emma. Her Japanese was flawless.

"Konnichiwa Heckler-san. Watashi wa namae no Tsukamoto Yakumo desu, yoroshiku."

"Tsukamoto-san, this is considering translating you and your partner's work into English," said the Chief Editor. "Ultimately, the decision is yours since you and Harima-san do not work for me full time. Please take Heckler-san and discuss this matter."

"Hai, Gotō-sama," said Yakumo with a bow. Emma got up, bowed, and walked out of the room.

"Tsukamoto-san," called the Chief Editor.

"Hai?"

"We would like to have Heckler-san's mangas. The American manga producers are extremely incompetent compared to us and can't seem to find real manga artists, but they are getting better recently and I don't want to lose the chance at getting a jump on the West. In addition she fluently speaks German, another market we can jump on. You know the manga/anime market in Germany has been growing rapidly for the last 5 years. I know we can get people here who speak English, but in my opinion it would be more advantageous to have someone who lives in America and knows what Americans truly like and enjoy."

"I understand," said Yakumo before leaving.

Emma sat on a bench outside the office. In her lap was the manga and in her hand was a note pad. She wrote out her notes in a mix of German and English, neither of which language Yakumo understood.

"Heckler-san?" said Yakumo to alert her to her presence.

"Hai?" said Emma politely with a small smile.

"Uh… would you like to talk?"

"Well, I did travel nearly 5,000 miles (2) to get her," said Emma with a light laugh.

"Right," said Yakumo unsure of how to proceed.

Sensing what was going through Yakumo's head, Emma decided to take charge, "I haven't had lunch yet. I landed in Narita a couple hours ago and took a train here so I'm starving. Do you know a place to eat around her?"

"Hai, I know a good place."

* * *

**1620 Hours; October 20****th****, 2010; El Café, Yagami; Kanagawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

"So you work here?" asked Emma looking around the café Yakumo worked in part-time.

"Part-time," said Yakumo. She felt a little intimidated by Emma. She seemed harmless, but Yakumo was not good at new social situations and was struggling to make head way. She was worried she would screw this up and ruin Harima's chances of going international on his manga which would be a huge achievement. She also felt a little intimidated by Emma's strong sense of composure and the fact she was older and projected an aura of experience.

"So Harima-san is the main author and does the writing and most of the drawlings?"

"Hai. I help clean up the work and do half the detailing on the drawings."

"But he does the guns and uniforms and people?"

"… well I haven't seen the same things he has seen," said Yakumo lowering her head.

"Mmm… there are a couple of errors, but you two are pretty good," said Emma kindly.

"What errors?"

"Well… small things like the enlisted ranks in the other militaries. Like that there is no sergeant 1st class in the USMC, they're called gunnery sergeant. Also a few minor errors, but that shouldn't be a problem. This is pretty good."

"Arigato Heckler-san," said Yakumo shyly.

"Onegai (please), called me Emma," said Emma with a sweet smile.

"Okay… uh you can call me Yakumo if you like."

"Yakumo, you don't have to be so nervous. I don't bite," said Emma with laugh.

"Gomen (sorry)…"

"Common, if we're going to make this deal than we should get to know each other a little better."

"Okay," agreed Yakumo unsurely.

"…"

"…"

"Would you prefer me to start?" asked Emma.

"Well… uh… I can…"

"Maybe I should start."

"Hai."

"I'm Heckler Emma. I'm from Kirkland, United States. My birthday is July 12th, 1990 and I am 20 years old. I live with my mother, father, older brother, and sister-in-law. I attend Seattle University," said Emma. "Okay tell me a little about yourself."

"Um… I'm Tsukamoto Yakumo. I'm from here, Yagami, Japan. My birthday is March 23rd, 1993 (3) and I'm 17. I live with my big sister and… uh… well three other people. I attend Yagami High School."

"Three other people?"

"Kenji-san, a little Korean girl he adopted named Mai, and one of his army friends Kitsumori-san."

"Sounds crowed."

"A little, but they're nice people. Kitsumori-san likes to keep to himself so I don't know him that well. Mai, she's really smart and strong."

"You sound like you envy her," said Emma seeing right through Yakumo.

Yakumo was stunned by the bluntness of this statement, but there was no denying it. She merely nodded.

"Sometimes the people who look the strongest are the people who are the loneliest. My closest friends and boyfriend are in the Special Forces. They seem to need a friend to talk to. Of course, the people left behind are also very lonely."

Yakumo nodded. It was lonely.

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

Yakumo blushed and sank low in her chair.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of," Emma. 'This girl clearly needs help. I wonder why she gets so easily depressed.'

"Is it weird to have never dated at my age?" asked Yakumo suddenly. Why she was asking a stranger a question that had bothered Yakumo for nearly 18 months she had no idea, but she thought that Emma would give her an answer. She had no reason to lie or tell her some false story to shield her.

Emma looked at Yakumo and sized her up. Yakumo was beautiful in ways that would make her jealous if she wasn't happy with her own relationship with a certain Delta Operator currently in Korea… than again he could be in Russia, you never know with Delta. From what she had seen of Yakumo in the past hour was that she was shy, lacking self-esteem, low self-confidence, highly self-conscious, and a little anti-social. She was also polite, friendly, non-judgmental, soft-spoken, and self-sufficient. Emma surmised that Yakumo had several boys come onto her and probably finds it overwhelming.

"Iē, it's not weird. You're probably just not ready. I have friends who don't date cause they want to do other things."

"It's not that I'm not ready… it's that…"

"What's his name?" asked Emma slyly.

"Uh…"

"Come on," she Emma encouragingly.

"Kenji-san," said Yakumo in a very small voice.

"Awww, kawaii (cute)," said Emma hugging the girl. "So you like the delinquent type?"

"How did you know?"

"I read the manga and I write manga myself. Harima-kun seems to identify the most with the protagonist and the protagonist is named Arima Kanji… that's pretty thin disguise if you ask me."

Yakumo nodded. "Hai… that is true… so you write manga?"

Emma smiled, reached into a black case she'd carried with her over her shoulder, and pulled out a thick stack of papers. It was two copies of the same manga, the first was in English and the second was in Japanese. The manga was a comedy of American life. Yakumo had to keep flipping to the back decisions of book where information on things mentioned in the manga that weren't common to Japanese lifestyle was explained.

"I've been trying for four years now. No one in the US would accept me on a large scale. Some Canadian companies (4) have produced some of my shorter mangas. So this summer I got the idea to try my luck here."

"I've never heard of Westerners writing manga."

"There aren't a lot," Emma said with a shrug. "Anyways, I hoped that maybe this manga would do well in Japan."

"Is this really what America is really like?" asked Yakumo. It didn't look like what manga and anime had led her to believe. Emma didn't even look like the Japanese stereotype of Americans.

"Hai, bet that dispels a lot of myths, ne?"

"It sure is different. Some many different types of people."

"We're probably one of the most diverse countries in the world. The truth is that we, the Americans, laugh at Japanese descriptions of America because they are usually badly misguided."

"The main character… she looks like you," said Yakumo pointing to the main character.

"Hai, it supposed to be me and her male companion is supposed to be my boyfriend," said Emma pointing Nisei boy with two parallel scars on his cheek and a singe deeper scar on his neck. He was portrayed as a sarcastic, slightly paranoid man who was some kind of spy and was always talking about the Soviet Union or national security. "It's meant to be a more comical portal of him, but fairly accurate."

Yakumo listened as Emma talked about her life and friends in America. She was friendly, very confident… so many things Yakumo wasn't.

"Ano…?" Yakumo began, but quickly stopped losing her courage.

"Hai?"

"Nothing."

"What?"

"… how do you ask a boy out?" asked Yakumo blushing furiously and not meeting Emma's eyes.

Emma couldn't help, but giggle a little. 'Awww, how cute. I remember when I was like that,' Emma thought. "Tell me a little about Harima-kun."

"…"

"Come on Yakumo, you keep turning the conversation to this. This is clearly eating you up inside. This isn't healthy," said Emma leaning forward.

Yakumo took a deep breath and said, "He's not too bright to be honest. He is so easily misunderstood, and he misunderstands things just as equally as he is misunderstood. He's a very hard worker and he tends to overlook other things… like me."

"So he completely ignore you?"

"Iē, I was his first real friend and he calls me his best friend."

"That's good. He trusts you so you have a solid foundation to start from. That's how my relationship started," said Emma confidently.

"Kenji-san is very good with animals. He's much better with them than I am. He's also raising the young Korean girl, Mai, as his little sister. He and his friends have put her in school and she clearly adores him…"

"Yakumo."

"Hai?"

"You have to take the initiative with this guy. You have to tell him how you feel. You've just described the common male oblivious moron. I see guys like this all the time. They mean well and they make good friends, but if you don't tell them than they won't ever start to think of you as more than a friend."

"But… he doesn't… my sister Tenma. He loved her for years. He started writing manga because of her. He was heartbroken when she went off with another guy… then again, he didn't confess to her."

"Really need to confess. He could meet someone else. Don't convince yourself that you're the only one who will ever see him for what he really is underneath this delinquent façade."

"There was another girl who saw him. She was stronger than me, but she just couldn't accept her feels for him. But she's gone."

"For now," Emma added.

"How?" Yakumo asked in a pleading voice.

Emma smiled down at Yakumo like a big sister help her little sister. "Speak from the heart. You know him better than I do."

A waitress walked over to their table with the bill. Yakumo started to reach for her wallet, but Emma handed to girl a 5,000-en (5) bill. Once they got their change back, the two girls walked down the nearest commuter rail station.

"It was nice meeting you Yakumo. I'm just going to the US Consulate in Yagami before going to my hotel. Kami-sama knows I could use some sleep."

"I just wanted to ask one thing."

"Hai?"

"You mentioned her boyfriend several times. What's his name?"

Emma smiled widely. "His name is Lt. Colonel Shinhachi John of the 1st Special Operational Detachment-Delta. I call him Jack. He's been my best friend for 6 years and been boyfriend for the last two months."

"Was it worth risking it all?"

"Very much so."

"Arigato."

"Iē, zenzen. Mata (bye)."

"Jā mata."

* * *

**2000 Hours; October 20****th****, 2010; Tsukamoto Residence, Yagami; Kanagawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

It was 20:00 (8:00 pm) and the Tsukamotos and Mai were watching the Three Who Got Slashed. Yakumo had made dinner as usual. Mai's knowledge of cooking was good since her family had run a restaurant in Pusan, but Yakumo didn't really want to make her do the cooking. Tenma's didn't cook, she burned. Yakumo had long ago decided to do all the cooking for the safety of herself and her sister.

While Yakumo and Mai found the program entertaining, but they weren't nearly as riveted by the somewhat cliché plots as Tenma was. The three of them watched as the young lord who was the main character and his two companions did various tasks during the Sengoku Era (mid 1400s-early 1600s). Yakumo guess that Tenma's love of Japanese History was what attracted her to the show.

Tonight, Yakumo wasn't really paying attention. She was mentally writing a letter. She just didn't know what to say.

'_Speak from the heart. You know him better than I do_,' said a voice in the back of Yakumo's mind repeating Emma's words.

'… I know him better than anybody,' Yakumo thought. "That's it!"

"Nani (what)?" asked Tenma looking at Yakumo.

"Huh?" Yakumo hadn't realized she'd spoken outloud.

"What is **it**? You said 'it'."

"Uh… it's just a math problem at school," said Yakumo quickly. She was a horrible liar, but Tenma usually didn't pick up on these sorts of things. Mai was clever enough to see through this lie, but didn't comment.

Half an hour later when the show was over, Yakumo went up to her room. She pulled out a piece of paper and began to compose a letter pouring all her heart and soul into it.

* * *

**1417 Hours; October 22****nd****, 2010; Sagami-Gawa Hotel, Yagami; Kanagawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

Emma was checking out today. She had a few more things to do, but eventually she would take a train to Narita International Airport near Narita, Chiba Prefecture. Narita International Airport was one of the largest airports in Japan where most of the flights from the United States arrived due to its close proximity to Tokyo. It would be a one hour train ride to Yokohama and a 90 minute train ride to Narita Airport Terminals.

Emma walked out of the hotel. She walked down to the end of the block and turned right. On this street was a series of consulates of major countries. She passed the Chinese Consulate which stood abandoned with a sign that said:

This is area is off limits

By order of

The Public Security Intelligence Agency (6)

And

Naicho (7)

The Democratic Korean People's Republic never had some much as an embassy in most NATO countries… in fact they didn't have embassies in countries that were not close to Russia, China, or the Warsaw Pack.

Emma passed the French Consulate, British Consulate, and the Canadian Consulate.

She passed the German Consulate which appeared to be new. She smiled politely at one of the Bundespolizei who protected the consulate. Emma had a valid German Passport with her, but had business else where.

She passed a Russian Consulate, it surprised her that Russia had one. She looked up at the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic's (RSFSR) flag which was the Soviet's red flag with a yellow hammer and sickle with one yellow star; the only difference was a blue vertical bar on the left side of the flag. Next to the RSFSR flag was the Soviet flag. A couple of KGB of 9th Directorate stood outside in their greenish-brown uniforms. They glared at Emma, probably recognizing her as a woman of German descent. Emma merely smirked at them, the consulate and embassy staffs were probably just sitting around doing nothing with no orders coming from Moscow.

Next door to the Russian Consulate was a building with the Star Spangled Banner sticking out at an angle from an overhang. There were two lines, one for foreigners which was moderately crowded lined up against the side of the building waiting to get in and a second empty line for citizens with passports.

Three men and one woman wearing US Marine B-class semi-formal uniforms stood outside guarding the consulate. The Marines wore shiny black boots, blue trousers with a vertical yellow stripe up the side, a brown belt with brass buckle, a tannish-brown tunic with black tie, and a white cap with a black brim and a the USMC insignia pinned on the rim.

One of the men stopped Emma and asked to see her passport. Emma produced a dark blue booklet with the Presidential Seal imprinted in gold and also in gold written:

United States of America

Passport

The Marine opened the book and looked at the information written on it.

Name: Emma Hannah Heckler

Place of Birth: Kirkland, WA

Date of Birth: July 12, 1990

The Marine handed the passport back to her, touched the brim of his cap, and stood aside for her.

The US Consulate to Yagami was also a new consulate. She walked to a hallway and down a flight of stairs where two men in black suits where in a small room that served as a guard post at the bottom of the stairs. She paused at the door of the guard post expecting to be stopped.

"Mr. Johnson is expecting you Ms. Heckler. He's the last door on your left," called one of the guards.

Emma nodded and walked to the indicated door. She knocked and entered. Mr. Johnson was a black man in his early 50s. He was casually reading a report. He looked up at Emma and seemed to be waiting for her to speak.

"This is from a family friend," said Emma in a business like tone holding up a thick sealed envelope marked 'Gehieme'. "The friend in question works for the Bundesnachrichtendienst, he spoke with Jack while he was on leave and asked him about what was going on in Russia. The friend collected this intelligence and wants Jack to make sense of it for the BND."

"Thank you Ms. Heckler. It may be a while before Piney Creek can get this, but I'll see to it he does," said Mr. Johnson taking the envelope and putting it in a safe with other documents. He was mildly impressed on how well Ms. Heckler worded her sentences, carefully being ambiguous on the BND agent and whether this agent was male or female. She was trustworthy as indicated by Lt. Colonel Shinhachi.

"Also this is for him from me."

"Some kind of evidence?" asked Mr. Johnson taking a small brown package.

"No, it's a novel. It's Tom Clancy's book The Hunt for Red October. He's never read his books and I thought he might enjoy it," said Emma with a shrug. Truthfully, she'd never read his books either, but she heard nice things about them from Maiwald who has read most of Tom Clancy's novels.

"Heh, I use to do field work when I was younger. Nothing like a good book to kill time," said Johnson with a chuckle. He tossed the package in the safe too.

"I have to sign a deal with someone, so you have a nice day," said Emma standing up.

"You too," said Johnson. When she was gone Johnson let out a sigh. He truly didn't know where Shinhachi was. He was in charge of this communication station built in Yagami back in the 1960s. The idea was that if the Soviets nuked the US naval bases around Tokyo Bay including Tokyo, Yokohama, and Chiba, than the US would still be able to relay orders to agents via this station. The consulate was built in the 1990s when the Russians built their own next door. The NSA was worried the Russians might notice the non-Japanese citizens going in and out of the building next door to them.

'Where is Shinhachi?' he wondered. All he knew was that he passed an order to Lt. Colonel John Shinhachi, Major Maya Solomon, and Captain Jason Maiwald of the Delta Force was to return to Yokohama for reassignment.

Meanwhile Emma was walking down to meet with Yakumo.

"Gomen for being late, but I had business to attend to," said Emma when she arrived in a café.

"Iē, I didn't wait long," said Yakumo. "This is the final agreement. You will get five payments of 2,500-en, one every month. It says that you get 10 percent of all sales in the North American Distribution Region (8) and for an additional 5 percent of all sales in the Federal Republic of Germany."

"The UK isn't included in the deal?"

"The Chief Editor doesn't want to sell in Great Britain until he sees how it sells in the usual markets."

"Germany isn't the usual markets."

"Hai, but he wants to see if we can sell their."

Emma shrugged. This was the best deal she'd had ever. If this manga sold as well as she hoped it would bring in a decent amount of money. Plus it would bring her real creditability in the industry.

"I would prefer that I get my payments in Dollars or Euros," said Emma as she signed her name.

"I will tell the Chief Editor," said Yakumo signing her name next.

"I take this went to Harima-san first."

"How'd you know?"

"Well his name is on here and it smells like my boyfriend a little. Like gunpowder, dirt, gun oil, and napalm," said with a small smile.

There was a silence at the mention of the word 'boyfriend'.

"Did you write him?"

Yakumo was quiet for a few seconds before answering, "I have the letter… but I haven't mailed it yet."

"Come with me," said Emma taking Yakumo by the arm and dropping a few bills on the table. She led Yakumo to a mailbox.

"Do it."

Yakumo stood in front of the Japanese Postal Service mailbox. It was merely a small box on a poll with a slot on the front and door that could be opened by a postal worker. She held the letter in her trembling hands. Emma put her hands on Yakumo's shoulders and squeezed them slightly. Yakumo stared at the mailbox, the letter, Emma, the letter again, and slowly reached for the little door that closed the slot. She pulled it open and placed the letter in the slot. She froze. She took a deep breath and with all her might she let go. With a metallic slam, the little door closed again and prevented people from breaking into the mailbox.

"How do you feel?" asked Emma.

Yakumo looked up at the sky. It seemed so clear and open. She smiled, "I feel… great."

* * *

**0800 Hours; October 24****th****, 2010; Temporary Japanese Barrack, Tabu-dong; North Gyeongsang Province, Republic of Korea**

The 81st Armor/Heliborne Infantry Regiment were had taken up residence in a secondary school that was not in use. With the loss of an armor brigade in the North Jeolla Province, the PLA had fallen back to regroup. They'd only moved into Tabu-dong yesterday with no resistance. The Chinese however didn't leave in a hurry; they were too organized for that. They had not left behind any equipment or intelligence behind so little or no information on what units had held this area was unavailable.

Harima had spent most of yesterday on patrol walking around the hills searching for Chinese artillery spotters and snipers that weren't there. All they saw were local people living in the suburbs and if you went out far enough there were farmers. Some didn't look too happy to see Japanese soldiers, but they were willing to say when they last saw the Chinese or North Koreans. No one had seen the PKA soldiers in quite a while and the PLA had fallen back on the 22nd.

"Oi, Kenji! Mail for you," said Toyotomi dropping a letter in front of Harima who was working on Volume V of his series. He recognized Yakumo's hand writing and knew this was her report on how the deal went through with this Heckler-san from America.

He began to read:

'Dear Kenji,

I want to tell you first that Heckler-san will probably sign the contract. She's very nice and I believe she is an honest person.

The reason I wrote this however is that I have something very important to tell you. For about two years now I have been at your side aiding you in your dream. You trusted me and let me into your world like no one else. You were always acting so tough, but in reality you were a kind and gentle person who lived life with a passion. This was also something you only allowed me to see.

You treated me like a normal person. You never treated me like I was this perfect girl who was the object of a mere male fantasy. I didn't know why, but it was such a relief to have a friend to talk to who I could start to open up to and would do the same with me.

We were both outsiders. We couldn't find our places in the world and together we created our own. You gave me a special place in your heart and I created a very special place in mine.

I have started to have feelings for you when we started to spend time together. I didn't understand them at first. I thought they would go away, but they didn't. I thought I could let you go for what I told myself was your happiness, but I still couldn't.

Kenji, I see right through you. I see you. I see the person who you are. I have seen you grow so much since my first year of high school. You were… a moron… but you always meant well. Look at you now, you're manga carrier is taking off, you are raising an orphan girl. Do you realize how selfless you are? What a good person you are despite what other people think? Because I do.

I have never loved a man before you can into my life. I didn't know it was love for a while, but it slowly crept up on me. I have always asked you to come home safely because I can't imagine my life without you. I need you. I love you.

I know this is hard for you. I know you are probably confused. I know you will need lots of time to think. When this war is over and you are allowed to come home, please tell me how you feel. I will wait for you at your home here with me.

Love

Yakumo'

Harima read the letter, then reread the letter, then reread it again, then he looked around the room, read the letter again, rubbed his eyes, and reread the letter three more times before putting it down.

'What the hell?!' he thought totally confused at he tore at his hair.

He spotted a second sheet and read it hoping it would give him a better sense of what was going on.

'PS: Please stop tearing at your hair, I kinda' like your hair, but I think you'd look better it you combed it forwards.'

Harima sighed, 'She really does know me.'

"Oi, Kenji what's up?" asked Hanai. Harima was too stunned to move. Hanai picked up the letter and read. After reading it he started to grin and then laugh.

"What are you laughing at?" Harima growled.

"Gomen, but I just can't help but think it's funny that I am reading a love letter from Yakumo to you and not freak out," he said still snickering. "I mean, you know when we were still new at this and still hated each other? I would have strapped on a satchel charge and blown us both up in a berserk rage."

He handed to letter back to Harima who pocketed it. Hanai sat down and said, "I guess I really am over her."

"Suō-san is a nice girl. I don't blame you for being over Yakumo-san," said Harima still trying to grasp what had just been said.

"So what are you going to do?" asked Hanai seriously. He knew this was a big moment for Yakumo and could change the course of Harima's life. Hanai really did care about both of them.

"… I guess I need to think harder than I ever had in my entire life, starting now and on until the end of the war to when we are eventually sent home," said Harima slowly with an uncharacteristic air of maturity. He thought to himself, 'She's so timid… I can only imagine what it must have taken for her to spill out her soul to me.'

It wasn't that he was untracked to Yakumo, it was that he just never stopped to think of her in that way. Well, now Harima had to do a lot of thinking.

* * *

Well, I hope ya'll enjoy that single longest chapter I have ever written to this date. This chapter is over 9,000 words long. This is how I have viewed Yakumo as a character and a person. Yakumo never really made much development in the anime or in my story until now. Yakumo takes a stand, so how will Harima respond? You'll just have to read until the end of this story.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. The Order of the Rising Sun is a higher set of awards than the Order of the Sacred Treasure. There are eight classes. Each class of the Order of the Rising Sun is slightly different from the other classes. In the past, women were given a separate award, The Order of the Precious Crown which is an equivalent. The medal above the Order of the Rising Sun is the Order of the Golden Kite, but was abolished by US during the occupation of Japan. The Order of the Chrysanthemum is the highest sets of awards in Japan. Japanese awards are not restricted to the military or Japanese citizens, civilians can get the awards and several Americans had received the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Order of the Rising Sun, and Presidents Eisenhower and Regan received the Order of the Chrysanthemum Grand Cordon.

2. If you are curious the distance between Seattle and Tokyo is 4,792 miles or 4,164 nautical miles or 7,711 kilometers with a 15 hour time difference and the International Date Line in between.

3. According to my web sources, Yakumo's birthday is March 23. No year for date of birth is listed, but since I say it's 2010 in my story and Yakumo is 17, I think it is implied, as far as my story is concerned, that her year of birth is 1993.

4. Many of the companies who translate manga and do English dubs for anime for North American distribution are based in Canada. Vancouver has dubbing companies that have done to voiceovers for several animes.

5. The Japanese have suffixes that my copy of Japanese for Dummies calls 'counters'. This 'counters' are word particles put after a number to tell a person what you're counting. There is a counter for people (nin), one for animals (hiki), one for inanimate items (tsu), one for mechanical items (dai), believer or not there is one for cylindrical items (hon), one for time (ji), one for days (hi), one for months (getsu), and one for money (en). 5,000-en is in other words 5,000 yen, the rough equivalent of 50 US Dollars. Since the 1950s the Japanese Yen is structured in a way that 1-en is equal to 1 cent and 100-en is equal to 1 dollar. After the Meiji Restoration and before the 1950s, they 1-en was equal to 1 dollar and the Japanese had a currency called the Sen that was equal to Cents. The Sen is no longer used as valid currency in Japan.

6. The Public Security Intelligence Agency (PSIA) is the Japanese intelligence agency that answers to the Japanese Ministry of Justice. From what I understand it is primarily a counter-intelligence service meant to protect Japan from threats of foreign espionage, terrorism, and internal security threats. It seems to be a cross between the FBI and CIA. It does not appear that the PSIA plays a major combat role.

7. Naikaku Jōhō Chōsashitsu (Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office) or Naichō is an intelligence service that reports directly to the Japanese Prime Minister. They seem to only comprise of 80 personnel. Little is known about them.

8. The North American Distribution Region is a an area of distribution of movies, books, and games that is limited to the English speaking countries of North America, meaning the United States and Canada. The Spanish speaking region of North America such as Mexico and Panama are a separate region and other English speaking countries like the United Kingdom and Australia too have their own individual regions.


	48. Chapter 48: Order of Battle

Hey ya'll

Hey ya'll. We're drawing close to chapter 50. Can't believe how long the last chapter was, but I wanted to fit it all in one chapter.

Thank you Gin and ahgwa for your kind reviews.

Anyways, Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy has been giving me some ideas and it also gives me a good look into the nitty-gritty of conducting war like submarine and anti-submarine warfare which I know very little about before I watched Hunt for Red October. It also gave me some details on the Soviet command structure and the structure of the Soviet government. Seriously people, Tom Clancy is a very smart man who seems to do his homework. I've got nothing compared to this guy, he is a true processional.

Most of all, reading Red Storm Rising has given me some better ideas for describing battles and the other things which I have generally had difficulty saying.

I don't own any trademarked or copywrite item. Please review and/or tell a friend.

* * *

**Chapter 48: Order of Battle**

"You'll thank me later."

One of Mr. Monk's catchphrases from the TV show Monk

**1000 Hours; October 21****st****, 2010; North Atlantic Treaty Organization Headquarters, Brussels; Brussels-Capitol Region, Kingdom of Belgium**

(Conversations in this chapter will be in English unless said otherwise)

General Kobayashi Jin, Supreme Commander of Japanese Federal Armed Forces, was sitting in a limousine with a handful of selected general and admirals. He had left the commanders of the Federal Army General Kugashi and commander of the Federal Air Force General Takahashi behind to give orders. He had brought Admiral Mizuryū Chidori with him because she seemed to highly adept at dealing with foreigners.

The motorcade consisted of two black limos each flying the Japanese flag on the left side of the hood and the Japanese military flag on the right. In a pair of MUTT Jeeps with M2 .50 caliber heavy machine guns led the motorcade and a M939 with a squad of soldiers and an M2 mounted behind the cab took the sweeper position. Belgian police officers riding on motorcycles with their sirens blaring provided additional escort to ensure that they weren't stopped by traffic.

They had reached the compound that was headquarters for the entire North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The flags of all the NATO members: the Kingdom of Belgium, the Royal Commonwealth of Canada, the Kingdom of Denmark, the French Republic, the Republic of Iceland, the Italian Republic, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America, the Hellenic (Greek) Republic, the Republic of Turkey, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of Austria, the Kingdom of Spain, the Portuguese Republic, the Republic of Albania, the Federation of Japan, and the Republic of Kosovo (1).

General Kobayashi marveled at the all the countries that were in this alliance. Today, he, Mizuryū, three admirals, two army generals, and three air force generals were the face of Japan in NATO.

At the gate a Belgian soldier armed with an FN Hershel P90 sub-machine gun stopped the lead jeep and asked the officer in the jeep for his papers. Once assured of their business, the guard signaled to a squad of Belgian soldiers to let the Japanese through. They lowered a bunch of razor like teeth meant to rip out car tires, lowered a steel wall that blocked though traffic, and raised a steel gate. Guards armed with FN Hershel FNC assault rifles, FN Hershel P90s, and FN Hershel PG handguns stepped aside to allow the motorcade to pass.

Once in front of one of the buildings, the motorcade stopped and the generals and admirals got out. They walked up to an elevator and entered while being flanked by Japanese armed soldiers.

"Do you know why we are here specifically?" asked Admiral Mizuryū in Japanese.

"They said that NATO is going to have a full on discussion on the situation in Eastern Europe tomorrow. Today they wanted to brief us on something secret," said General Kobayashi.

They approached the office of the Chairman of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization German General Erwin Kautz. A couple of German soldiers wearing KSK uniforms stood outside of the office. They snapped to attention upon seeing the senior Japanese command staff and automatically opened to door to the office.

General Kautz's office was a large office. It had only a few windows, probably for defensive/security reasons. There was a large conference table in the room. On the walls were maps, LED screens that were currently displaying various news networks giving reports and showing maps with troop positions, and clocks showing the times of different cities around the world.

"General Kobayashi," greeted an American general, "I'm Army General Frank Kramer, commander of US Forces in Europe. We called you here today because we wanted to bring the Japanese up to speed on something very important."

"Which would be?" asked Admiral Mizuryū suspiciously.

"You must be Admiral Mizuryū," said General Kramer with a chuckle, "My colleague General O'Grady warned me about you. They say you like to get straight to the point and I admire that in an officer."

"Thank you General Kramer," said Admiral Mizuryū.

"Please, we're all senior officers, call me Frank. Anyways, like I said I like an officer who gets to the point. It saves time," he said. He pressed a button and a projector beamed a map of the world on the table. Some of the officers moved coffee cups that were on the table and disrupted the projection. General Kramer typed a couple of keys on his laptop and the map zoomed in on Europe. A little more typing and Europe was than shown in red and blue; red being the USSR and blue being NATO.

"In 1946 the Soviet Union invaded Germany when Germany was still divided in East and West. We call it the One Year NATO-Soviet War and since we created plans to deal with another such attack," said he in monotone.

The projection changed to show a large formation of Soviet tanks, infantry, and aircraft amassing by the German border.

"We call it Operation: Flashpoint. It originally started off as a planned defense of Germany, but grew into multiple sub-operations and became the umbrella of the joint defense of NATO."

The Japanese nodded to show they understood so far.

'So this is why were here,' thought Kobayashi, 'we must fit in somewhere with Flashpoint.'

"Operation: Flashpoint-I is the original operation. As the display shows, it was meant to counter a full on blitzkrieg style attack on Germany and Austria. The Soviets are big fans of the combined-arms style of warfare the blitzkrieg centers on. The defense of Germany and Austria is called Flashpoint-I Alpha. This operation has been updated to deal with changes in the Soviet arsenal and to include nuclear, chemical, biological, sabotage, and other variations to the Soviet attack."

The projection changed to include Soviet warships off the coast of Denmark.

"This is called Flashpoint-I Beta. It was a supposed attack on Germany with an amphibious invasion of Denmark using the Soviet Baltic Sea Fleet out of Leningrad. Whereas Flashpoint-I Alpha centers on artillery and air power to blunt the Soviet attack for our armor, Flashpoint-I Beta uses paratroopers, marines, and a combined fleet to stop the Soviet flanking maneuver."

The projection then removed the attack on Denmark and changed to an attack on Italy.

"This is Operation: Flashpoint-I Charlie. This operation uses a similar idea to Beta, but instead has a Soviet attack on Italy. Due to the fact that we mostly control the Mediterranean we don't consider this to be a likely attack, but we do consider a land attack from Yugoslavia."

The map shifted over to show the North Atlantic. Kobayashi and Mizuryū saw the eastern shores of North American, Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia western coast, France, Belgium, Holland, parts of Germany, and the UK. The map now showed Soviet destroyers, cruisers, frigates, corvettes, submarines, and carriers in gathering north of Scandinavia. NATO naval bases, airbases, and radar sites were shown on Scotland, Iceland, Greenland, Northern Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, Canada, and the United States.

"This is Operation: Flashpoint-II. It just as equally important as Flashpoint-I. It is mostly a naval operation with the British naval base at Belfast and the American naval base at Norfolk as the major commands. Sites at Iceland, Scotland, and Greenland are highly important to us because we use them to watch Soviet subs and surface ships heading into Atlantic for drills. Flashpoint-II Alpha is the defense of the UK. Flashpoint-II Beta the defense of Iceland, an important midpoint and defensive point for our naval operations in the Atlantic. Flashpoint-II Charlie is the defense of Greenland. Flashpoint-II Delta is a backup plan in case any of the first three operations fail. Flashpoint-II mostly centers round the US, British, and French fleets especially our nation's carriers and subs.:

The map then shifted over to the Balkan Peninsula. It showed the Soviets in red, the Yugoslavians in orange, the Israelis as green, and Kosovo, Turkey, Albania, and Greece in blue. Soviet ships were shown in the Black Sea. Yugoslavian tanks and soldiers were shown across their nation. Soviets were shown in Romania, Armenia, Hungary, and other nearby Soviet republics.

"This is Operation: Flashpoint-III. The Balkans has always been a hotbed for trouble and because it is one of our most vulnerable areas and it's where the First World War got started, it's an area of great concern to us. Flashpoint-III Alpha is the defense of Turkey which. Because we keep nukes in Turkey aimed at the Soviet industrial heartland and we need Turkey to keep the Black Sea fleet bottled up so we can't afford to lose Turkey. It includes a defense for attacks from Armenia, Bulgaria, and amphibious attacks from the Black Sea. Flashpoint-III Beta is the defense of Greece; we need Greece to further our control of the Mediterranean Sea. Flashpoint-III Charlie is the defense of Kosovo. It was created because we need Kosovo as a foothold in Eastern Europe. Flashpoint-III Delta is the defense of Albania. We also have Operation: Flashpoint-III Echo the defense of Israel because NATO has a long standing interest in Israel. Operation: Flashpoint-III Foxtrot the defense of Kurdistan. Operation: Flashpoint-III Golf the defense of the Middle Eastern nations that supply us with oil. Operation: Flashpoint-III Hotel the defense of Afghanistan and Pakistan which we have invested interests since the US led 'War on Terror'. These plans are updated almost every other week because the Balkans are so volatile," he General Kramer. He used a rather sarcastic tone with the phrase 'War on Terror'. He took a sip of a glass of water before continuing.

The map moved to North America.

"Operation: Flashpoint-IV is the defense for North America; this is a rather ambiguous operation because we don't really know how the Soviets would plan for a long term invasion."

"What do you mean?" asked Admiral Mizuryū.

"Well, we know they will have to hit Norfolk or San Diego which are our United State's two largest naval bases. It can also be surmised they would hit areas where our transport ships would gather: New York City, Boston, New Haven, Province, the Delaware Bay, Baltimore, Norfolk, Charleston, Miami, New Orleans, Galveston, Portland, Seattle, Tacoma, Bremerton, San Francisco, and Oakland. We would also guess they may attack Alaska which is the area of the United States nearest the Soviet Union. Also it would be likely they would attack Pacific Command at Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands. They would also probably try to attack our major naval construction yards near Norfolk, New York, San Francisco, and around the Puget Sound area. Those same areas also house major naval repair yards."

"I see, so what are our plans?"

"Operation: Flashpoint-IV Alpha is the defense of the Eastern United States and Canada. We would expect them to hit New York, Norfolk, our radar and com sites in Newfoundland, and the US capitol Washington DC. Flashpoint-IV Beta is the defense of the Western United States and Canada. We expect attacks on San Francisco, San Diego, Pearl Harbor, and the cities around Puget Sound. Flashpoint-IV Charlie is the defense of the US on the Gulf of Mexico in a theorized attack launched from Cuba, sorta' like the movie Red Dawn… anyways, then we have Flashpoint-IV Delta which is the defense of Alaska. Flashpoint-IV Delta is a well planned out operation, we've basically turned Alaska into a fortress. Flashpoint-IV Beta and Delta need to be updated because they never were designed to include the Japanese Navy so that's one reason you're here."

The map then finally changed to show the Pacific and Eastern Asia.

"This is Operation: Flashpoint-V. Flashpoint-V Alpha is the defense of South Korea."

"Is that what you are using?" asked General Kobayashi.

"No, since it wasn't a Soviet operation we didn't want to use it and risk the Soviets learning about how we would respond if they were involved.

Anyways, Flashpoint-V Beta is the defense of Japan which badly needs to be updated due to the radical changes in the Japanese military. Flashpoint-V Charlie is the defense of Taiwan from China, the only Flashpoint that wasn't designed to be used primarily against the Soviets. Flashpoint-V Delta is the defense of Australia and New Zealand which have been traditional allies of ours outside of NATO.

Operation: Flashpoint I Alpha through Charlie can be enacted simultaneously and so can the sub operations of any of the Flashpoints. Some Flashpoints like I and II were designed to be enacted all at once too."

"So you see," said Chairman General Kautz speaking for the first time during the meeting. "We need a full evaluation of your military to update Pacific operations."

"Actually, it's particularly good you brought your commander of the navy with you," said Admiral Benjamin Merkerson, commander of the US Naval Forces in Europe. "What is the full fighting strength of the Japanese Federal Navy?"

Kobayashi and Mizuryū looked at each other from the corners of their eyes.

"I promise you this is a very secure place, your national defense secrets will be kept in the strictest of confidence," said General Kautz as he lit up a cigarette.

"The treaty we signed with the United States and the United Kingdom said that Japan could not possess a large navy with carriers, battleships, large numbers of submarines, and cruisers. We learned from the Americans to exploit loopholes," said Mizuryū quietly.

"How so?" asked a British admiral who had been quietly watching the proceedings.

"We kept several warships at a near completion status in secret," said one of the Japanese admirals.

There was a slightly stunned silence. Clearly the Europeans and North Americans had underestimated the Japanese, but the question was by how far. Finally Merkerson asked, "Numbers?"

"We had kept the one Sutsuru class supercarrier you know of near completion, which is one example. In truth we have two more Sutsuru classes and six Ryūsu class supercarriers, which are based heavily on the Nimitz class, near readiness. We also have three modified Pacific War era battleships near ready since 1960 which we call the Meiji Class which are roughly around the size of one of you Iowas. We also have more cruisers near ready. We have actually kept nearly 24 nuclear powered attack subs in active service and 12 boomer type submarines in active service-"

"You don't have the nukes to go with them?" asked a Dutch admiral shocked.

"Of course not," scoffed Admiral Mizuryū. "Japan would never risk our honor for nuclear weapons… though we have created some pretty creative non-nuclear weapons."

"But you use nuclear technology, right?"

"Japan has used nuclear power for decades," said General Kobayashi. "We saw no reason why we couldn't use them to power a ship. We just don't use them as weapons."

"How close is your fleet to readiness?" asked General Kramer.

"We're trying to do a major upgrade quietly, but if we get some outside help we could have three fleets centered around one Sutsuru class, two Ryūsu classes, one Meiji Class, and twelve Mogami Class Aegis cruisers in 9 to 18 months and of course we would use our existing destroyers and frigates," said Mizuryū simply.

A silence was greeted by this statement; stunned would be a huge understatement. 9 to 18 months was totally unheard of for a navy that size.

"We call it Operation: Shōwa Reincarnation. It has been in effect since the 1950s."

"How?" asked Merkerson weakly.

"Japan has over a hundred islands, most of them very small and the US has never really bothered to learn about all of them. The hard part was moving them. We basically moved the hulls under the American's noises as cargo ships and then assembled them in classified locations over the course of the past 60 years," said Admiral Naka, commander of the Japanese 1st Fleet.

"The navy has always been our primary form of defense and the army was meant to be used as a last line of defense," said Admiral Mizuryū. "Primarily, the land forces were for offensive operations and the air corps was meant to serve as support."

"You said you're nation is doing a mass upgrade of your fleet?" asked a German officer.

"We don't have a large youth population at this time," said Admiral Mizuryū. "So our navy has been trying for the past ten years to reduce the numbers of crew needed. We have reduced the our carrier and battleship crews by a forth, our cruisers and destroyers by a third, our frigates and amphibious assault ships by a fifth, and our submarines by nearly a half. This is made possible by our high technology and achievements by made our allies."

"So," said Admiral Merkerson who was still processing the information, "your navy prioritizes using its personnel in the most efficient way possible?"

"Precisely."

"What are your plans for national defense?"

Admiral Mizuryū cleared her throat and said, "Operation: Bushido is the main defensive operation if the Soviets landed on Japanese soil. It's an old plan which we are considering replacing completely. Operation: Shōwa Liberation is a preemptive strike against the Soviets which would start with a tactical air and submarine attack on Vladivostok and then an air and amphibious assault on the Chishima Rettō and Karafuto-shima. We'd then move our fleet up north and intercept the Soviet Pacific Fleet. It is similar to our success in the Japanese-Russo War (2)."

"What?" asked General Kautz who had never heard of these islands.

"You may know them as the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin which we claim as our rightful territory," said Admiral Mizuryū annoyed that their allies cared little about Nihon's territorial disputes with the USSR.

There was some uncomfortable shifting in the room. The United States, Canada, and the European Union didn't agree with Japan's claim to the Russian islands off the coast of Hokkaido. Still, if push came to shove in a war with the USSR then the Soviets would use those islands to attack Japan and South Korea. It would devastate Ivan's Pacific groups.

Mizuryū did not share Operation: Shōwa Restoration with their allies. It was an operation to remove the Americans from Japan if Japanese-American relations took a turn for the worse. She also didn't share the fact that the Naichō knew of American plans to eliminate the Japanese Imperial Family and the Diet if Japan attempted an uprising.

General Kobayashi cleared his throat and began to speak, "Operation: Heisei Splendor, is a plan we created ten years ago. We updated it recently to account for the upgrades to our fleets. It calls for our fleets centered on one Sutsuru class, two Ryūsu classes, and one Meiji class, with eight Mogami classes and roughly two dozen destroyers and cruisers. One fleet would defend the Nihon while a second fleet would follow through this Operation: Shōwa Liberation, amusing we are fighting Russia. The new changes have us striking major Chinese naval bases if China rebuilds her navy again. A third fleet would be left in reserve in case one of our groups gets overextended or we're needed else where."

"Mmmm… that would be easy enough to change," said General Kramer. "Admiral Benson of the 6th Fleet says we have a similar plan, but it would free up a lot of personnel, planes, and ships."

General Kautz started running the numbers through his head. If they carefully changed their plans as little as possible then they could use the Japanese as an auxiliary/response force. They could have two carrier groups plus thousands of soldiers, hundreds of tanks, vehicles, artillery, and planes that could be deployed to a crisis area. Japan may not have a large military, but they do have a huge navy and bring a lot of high technology products and they were proving to be very fast learners.

* * *

**1300 Hours; October 21****st****, 2010; Stalingrad City Duma, Stalingrad; Stalingrad Speacial Administrative Region, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic; Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic**

Volgograd, remained Stalingrad in 1925 by Premier Joseph Stalin, was capitol of the Stalingrad Oblast. Due to its name it was frequented by Soviet tourist usually to see the many monument dedicated to Glorious Comrade Premier Stalin or the Motherland Calls an 85m (279ft) statue dedicated for the Battle of Stalingrad during World War II.

Stalingrad was on the west bank of the Volgo River which runs through the industrial heartland of Russia. Stalingrad is also one of the largest industrial centers of the USSR with its steel, oil refining, chemical production, etc. It's main industries were machinery for construction, farming, and factories, vehicle production, and military vehicles and tanks. However, most Russian armor and vehicles since World War II were built east of the Ural Mountains in places like Omsk and Nizhny Tagil.

Stalingrad was not a pleasant place to live. The sky was usually dark from smog and the city reeked of rubber, oil, sulfur, and steel refining.

The City Duma was a descent size building with high brick walls topped with old iron spikes. It had a large expansive lawn with an asphalt driveway that led to the brick building of the post World War II era. Next door was the Stalingrad Oblast Duma ran the entire Stalingrad Oblast (3). It was a larger and was from the time of the Czars, stone construction and much more decorative.

Smoke was rising from the factories as people returned to work. The scars of the civil war showed, but through the encouragement of propaganda and political officers of the Red Army with stories of how their grandparents gloriously rebuilt the city after the Great Patriotic War (4), the Russian people rebuilt eagerly and returned to work.

The city and oblast Dumas were secured by members 9th Directorate of the KGB which were responsible for protecting the major Soviet officials, nuclear facilities, and the VIP-subway system in Moscow known as Moscow Metro-2. Additionally, members of one of the mechanized infantry battalions with mobile AA-vehicles and SAMs were also set up in the compound.

From the east side of the Volgo River came four helicopters. These were not the Mi-8s and Mi-24s, but brand-new Mi-17 Hip-Hs and Mi-28N Havocs. The Mi-17 was basically an Mi-8 with hardly any visible differences; its difference was that they were more powerfully and had longer range. The Mi-28 was an attack helicopter based off the ideas of the American AH-64 Apaches in that it doesn't spray huge amounts of missiles like the larger Mi-24 Hind, but uses guided missiles to precisely target enemies; the Mi-28N was a more expensive version for all-weather operations and night and day missions.

They were in groups of two with one Havoc leading and one of the Hips to its left. The lead Havoc was carrying air to air missiles and the lead Hip was carrying a squad of 9th Directorate KGB personnel with two VIPs. The second group was a Havoc armed with anti-tank missiles and a Hip with a group of Spetsnaz and a sniper team in case the Hip with the VIPs were forced to land.

"Stalingrad Oblast Duma, this is Omega 1-1. We our making our final approach, our we clear to land comrades?" asked the leading Hip pilot in Russian.

"Da (yes), you are clear for landing. We are lighting up the pad now," said a man in the small control tower for the oblast's government chopper pad. The co-pilot pointed out the landing pads which whose lights were on now to make their positions easy to see through smog being blown from the north.

The Hip with the Spetsnaz landed first. The elite Soviet commandos jumped out of the rear of the chopper with their AK-105 carbines and PP-19 Bizon SMGs. A Russian lieutenant radioed in and the other three choppers landed. KGB officers dismounted and looked around the open area before signaling for the two VIPs to exit.

Two men wearing the dark green uniforms with red trim and red patches on the shoulders and collars with stars that marked them as generals of the army (5).

A group of men mostly from their late 40s to their early 60s stood waiting at attention.

"Glorious Comrade Premier Penovaski, welcome to the 'City of Heroes'," said a man in his 50s who was going bald on top.

A 32 year old man with light brown hair and grey eyes smiled and said with a light chuckle, "Njet, Comrade Minister Yenchekov. I am not yet in a position to call myself Premier. Please, for now call me Comrade General."

"Da, Comrade General," said Minister Dmitry Yenchekov, a candidate who served under the Minister of Soviet Infrastructure who over saw the operations of electricity, oil, etc. He and other candidates, KGB officers, obscure Duma officials, and Soviet senior officers were here as the future Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic.

General Joseph Penovaski was one of the youngest men in the history of Russia to hold an officer rank that was usually held by men nearly twice his age. He took on the title of General of the Army, but he refused to take the title of General Secretary until after his revolution was complete. He had turned 32 only last week. He kept his hair nice and neat in a way that befitted an officer of the glorious Red Army. His movements always seemed more like twitches, which tended to make many feel uncomfortable in a place where every action could end your life for one reason or another. Some say his growing up with old Stalinists and years in the Glavnoje Razvedyvatel'noje Upravlenije (GRU), the Soviet military intelligence service which commanded corps like the Spetsnaz, made him highly paranoid. Either way, the man was friendly on the surface, but there was an air of coldness that made him feared.

They marched up to a large conference room with fine wood walls, old high leather wingchairs, one window behind the head of the table, and ornaments that dated back to the Czars or the early days of the Soviet Union. The future ministers of the Soviet Union sat down at the mahogany table, but Penovaski walked over to the window sill and sat down on the ledge.

"Uh… Comrade General Penovaski… do you wish to join us?" asked Minister of the Transportation Viktor Krivitsky quite confused by this usual behavior for a politician of the USSR.

"I am with you Comrade Minister Krivitsky, I just wish to view what our dear comrades of the Red Army and Air Force have liberated," he said calmly as he surveyed the view of the factories with a small smile on his face, but cold scrutiny in his eyes.

"It was a glorious battle that would make our grandparents proud," announced one general who led the attack and successfully sized Stalingrad.

"Indeed," said Penovaski vaguely, but his mind else where.

"Joseph, what are you thinking?" asked General Andrei Grishin who had been standing next to General Penovaski at attention. Grishin was 49 and was formerly Penovaski's second in command of the 43rd Armor Division. He had dark brown hair that was a little curly at its ends, but he kept his hair short much like Penovaski. He was a very quiet man, but was always at Penovaski's side. He was Penovaski's most trusted man.

"Of what we have gained here. We it worth the estimated 300 soldiers and 1,200 civilians who perished?" he asked quietly.

No one answered immediately. Finally one of the older men at the table spoke, "It was a small price to pay for the beginnings of our great victory."

"Is it Comrade Minister Kuusinen?" asked Penovaski his cold steel grey eyes boring into eyes of the man who'd spoken. The Minister of the Treasury slowly and carefully sat down. "Comrades, this is the Politburo! We must not overshadow the truth with propaganda, otherwise we are the sad excuse for leadership that resides in Moscow."

Penovaski glared around the table. "Tell me, did we loss more than we can afford?"

A man in the Air Force took a deep breath and said, "Comrade General Penovaski, I would say that we did not loss more than we can afford. It was a blow that some of our elite airborne units are now under-strength. The real blow in my opinion is that we spent too much time here when the door to Moscow was exposed while we reorganized. I think we need to make better use of our time, resources, and energy."

There was a silence while Penovaski digested this information and the Politburo wondered what would happen to this poor officer.

"So you think our strategies aren't efficient?" asked Penovaski in an unreadable tone.

"Da, Comrade General," said the officer who was trying as hard as possible to not tremble. Usually people who spoke their minds like this were erased from existence.

"Mmm… you are Colonel General (6) Nikolay Kosior, da?" asked Penovaski looking at the 55 year old commander of the 18th Air Division.

Kosior took a deep breath and made his peace knowing he was going to die before answering, "Da, Comrade General. I command the 18th Air Division for 12 years. Before that I was in charge of the regiment of air transports. My opinion is based off my personal memories of…" he took another deep breath, what he was about to say would defiantly end his life, but what the hell, "… memories of the incompetence of the Chief Marshal of Aviation. He was a political hack who had no business commanding and I see in our strategies some of his errors."

Kosior then pull out a cigarette. It was an American brand, better quality than Soviet brands, but they were much harder and much more expensive. He figured he might as enjoy this last pleasure in life.

"How would you like to be Chief Marshal of Aviation?" asked Penovaski.

The cigarette fell to the table, left a small burn mark, and went out as Kosior jaw dropped. He commits what was basically treason and was now being offered the job of being the Supreme Command of the Soviet Red Air Force. No one spoke, they were too shocked.

"Thank you Comrade General, but this is too much," spluttered Kosior.

"I think you will do the job just fine," said Penovaski in a final tone that suggested it wasn't a decision for him to make anymore.

"Comrade General," said a man sitting at the far end of the table. "I have concerns about Hungary."

"A valid concern Comrade Admiral Yakovlev, but rest assured that our comrades outside of Russia will have dealt with the Hungarians. We have taught the Poles and the Ukrainians and the others well, speaking of which there is a man in Poland who I feel could make a good Minister of Agriculture."

"A Pole?! There was never been a non-Russian on the Pulitburo," protested Minister Kuusinen. Other men made similar noises of protest.

"You forget your history Comrade Minister," said Penovaski with a light, slightly manic chuckle. "Glorious Comrade Premier Joseph Stalin was not Russian, he was Georgian."

It was a fact that Stalin was from the Soviet republic that bordered Turkey and Armenia known as Georgia; not to be confuse with the US State of Georgia. This was an area notorious for its instability, mostly due to the Chechens who were fighting for their so called independence just north of Georgia.

"Also Comrade Minister, we Russians haven't managed our agricultural system too well. How much of our national budget do we have to give to the Americans for grain?" he asked sounding increasingly pleasant, but increasingly infuriated. The undertone made the hairs on the backs of the Politburo's necks stand on their ends. "It seems to me that the Poles, although poor at running their economy, do understand farming. This is what makes the Americans powerful. Not these corporations of corrupt officials like the propaganda, but a wide variety of people who collectively bring their best ideas and merge them together. Which is why I think this very intelligent woman who practices medicine would be the best choice for Minister of Health and Welfare.

Comrades, this is the 21st Century. The Capitalist survive so well because they can adapt to the changes in technology. If our comrades in Asia, the People's Republic of China, can play the game of Capitalism so well, why not us? Why can't we make these changes, but still maintain the authority of the Politburo and Supreme Soviet? Do you want to see the hard work of Glorious Comrade Lenin or Stalin burn in the flames of revolution like the Czar Nicholas Romanov II?"

"I understand that Comrade General, but I have another concern. What about Korea?"

"Comrade General Polikov reports that things are stable in the Far East of the Motherland. If Comrade Premier Zhang and Comrade Premier Jong-Il can't held a war they started then that is their problem."

"What about NATO, we are going to fight them, da?" asked Minister Suusinen.

Penovaski looked at Suusinen in surprise and then burst into manic laughter. "Comrade Minister Suusineen, are you as foolish are you are old? Do you think we can put Mother Russia through a civil war, put the entire Union in turmoil, and then suddenly turn around and fight a powerful coalition like NATO who has only just increased their fighting strength with the Japanese Federal Navy? Our intelligence says in less then two years, maybe even less than a year the Japanese cold mobilize a huge fleet of carriers and large surface ships."

General Grishin looked at Minister Suusinen. This man was nothing, but a problem to the Red Revolution. Such was life as a Soviet politician. Penovaski wanted to expand Russia's power not only militarily, but independence of foreign imports and most of all her economy. As Penovaski had told him at the beginning of Red Revolution, 'Fighting the United States and NATO is not necessary if they stay out of our way.'

* * *

**0900 Hours; October 22****nd****, 2010; a NATO base, 3km Tokyo; Chiba Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

'This is not my office,' was the first thought that came to Shinhachi's mind.

Lt. Colonel John Shinhachi had been recalled for unknown reasons with the 15th Delta assault platoon and Major Maya Solomon's 4th Delta assault platoon, but such was life in SOCOM.

He remembered entering the office he occupied in Yokohama last night, the sounds of JR East freight trains rumbling up and down the rail lines about 200m away from his office, and the generic office desk.

The sounds were that of soldiers. He knew a window was open above his because he could feel the breeze. The soldiers sounded like they were British or Canadian, and they were doing basic exercises. He could also hear a tank, a German Leopard 2A6 judging by the noise of the track and engine.

This meant he was on a NATO base with near by friendlies. He was also not alone. Shinhachi knew this because he could hear someone smoking a pipe and he could smell it; Shinhachi didn't smoke, it was a bad habit for special forces and snipers, and the smell didn't appeal to him either.

Shinhachi felt a blanket was draped over him and he was on a couch.

'Interest,' he thought.

He shifted a little, still pretending to be asleep so he could get a better handle on the situation. He discovered that not only was he not tied up, but he could feel the sheath knife attached to his right ankle. This all led to him to decide he wasn't a prisoner.

Shinhachi sat up and faced a man sitting in a chair reading a newspaper. He was a British Major General, or so the rank insignia and uniform indicated. Shinhachi quickly noted that they were alone, the British officer was armed with an old Enfield .38 caliber double-action revolver, but Shinhachi's Glock P-21, M1911A1 Colt .45, Glock P-18, H&K USP .45, Kampfmesser 2000 combat knife, and a Bennelli M3T 12 gauge shotgun all neatly laid out on a coffee table between them.

"Mornin' Mr. Shinhachi," said the British officer.

"Mornin'," said Shinhachi putting his side arms in their holsters: The P-21 on his thigh, the P-18 and USP .45 inside his tunic, and the M1911A1 in a chest mounted holster commonly used by paratroopers. He knew by the weight that all his guns were loaded.

"I'm sure you understand that we're here to talk," said the British officer with a small impassive smile that all component covert warriors master to avoid giving signs of motive. Shinhachi could tell that this man was a professional, maybe even a better agent.

"Did the SAS kidnap me for intelligence or did you just want company for your morning tea?" asked Shinhachi wryly.

The British major general smirked and said, "Actually a job offer."

"I have a job and it's paying for college. I kinda' have to stay in the US Army."

"Funny," said the British man picking up a file, "According to good ol' boy at Vauxhall Cross (7) you come from a family who could put you through medical school... though it seems Delta Force had given you an intensive course in psychology for interrogating prisoners and profiling spies."

"Just a crash course, I'm not in a deep level covert business."

"Really?" said the major general raising his eyebrows. "Let's see. There was a major training accident in Albania before you completed your training and you have only been to Afghanistan before this war."

"Yes sir."

He pulled out a much thicker file with a red stamp on it the read, 'Top Secret'. "Now your 'unofficial' service record… mmmm. That training accident was really a covert mission to extract an MI (United States Army Military Intelligence) that had an insertion that went bad. You also brought back a deserting Spetsnaz and KGB officer who now serve the Navy SEALs and provided invaluable intelligence to the US Intelligence Community on the GRU and KGB. After that you were sent to the Caucasus to assassinate a Soviet renegade who was threatening to fire ICBMs at the Turkish Navy that kept the Soviet Black Sea Fleet bottled up. You planned and preformed that mission with one of you ol' friends from your hometown, Maya Solomon. After that you and Ms. Solomon's teams were deployed to Afghanistan to hunt and eliminate Taliban leaders. After that you were sent to the Xinjiang Autonomous Region to collect intelligence on Chinese missile sites and make friendly contacts with the Uyghur Chinese who are generally hostile to the PLA. You than made a very quiet insertion into the White Sea to collect intel major Russian naval facilities in and around Arkhangelsk. We then lost track of you for a while, but a MAD agent (8) sighted you and for associate in Vladivostok."

'Not bad,' Shinhachi thought to himself. He knew better than to underestimate the Militärischer Abschirmdienst (MAD), or in English Military Counter-Intelligence Agency. Franz, a Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) agent (9) who worked with the GSG-9 and the KSK, he was the one who probably reported this to the British. Oh well, he told Franz for the purposes of giving the Europeans a heads up to the chaos that was raging across Russia.

"I'm sure it's incomplete," said the major general.

'True,' Shinhachi thought. 'They don't know about Kazakhstan, Warsaw, the Zone of Alienation, Hong Kong, his several trips to the Balkans, his several other trips to the Caucasus, or the things he has orchestration from his home office where he did most of his work.

The major general closed the file and said without a smile, "The CIFA taught you and Mr. Maiwald well. I'd also dare say that Ms. Solomon is one of the best the MI has ever taught."

Shinhachi felt his insides clench, but he didn't show it. No one, but the man who trained him and others in the deep level covert agents knew he and Maiwald answered to the Counter-Intelligence Field Activity, or that Solomon was an G-2 agent assigned to work with them as their MI contact.

"Before you shoot me the preserve the secrecy of your assignment to spy on Brigadier General Lennox and evaluated him, I have something I think you should see."

There were two documents. The first was a signed order with the official Presidential Seal.

'Executive Order #13701: The Authorization of Transferring US Personnel in Forming a Joint NATO Task Force.

The United States Intelligence Community and United States Special Operation Command are here by authorized to send hand picked officers and operators to an classified location to form Joint Task Force 90.

Signed

President Michelle N. Crane'

The second document was a flash message from his superior in the CIFA.

'To callsign: Piney Creek

From callsign: Flying Scotsman

Piney Creek, you and Geheime are being transferred to the command of a Uniform-Kilo: Sierra-Alpha-Sierra, stop. He will be your new Six, stop. The agency has arranged that Shadow will be assigned to you too, stop. They want you to built from the ground up, stop. I think you will have free reign, stop. Have fun laddy, stop. Call me and family some time, stop. End transmission.'

'Uniform-Kilo was a simple code for UK or United Kingdom. Sierra-Alpha-Sierra was an equally simply code for SAS. Any idiot would understand that. New Six meant this man was his superior. Call the family was a code he was taught that meant he was to still report in to Flying Scotsman and the CIFA. Shadow was Solomon's G-2 callsign.

"So, Six, is the order of battle here?" asked Shinhachi recognizing he was caught in the good old bureaucracy whether he liked it or not. 'Might as well accept this, my job to watch Lennox was a big ass waste of time and I was going to reassigned anyways. At least I keep Jason and now have Maya on my team.'

"First things first, Mr Shinhachi," said the major general. His pipe had gone out and he put in fresh tobacco in before relighting it. Next he pulled out a clipboard and pulled a pen out of a tunic pocket. He clicked it and said, "You have to pass a little test. I need soldiers who know the game. You Yanks do always send your best to these joint task forces and I need to make sure you are as good as we think you are."

Shinhachi smirked. He was going to like this guy.

"Tell me what the structure of Soviet leadership is?"

It may sound random, but it was an important thing to know. There were many agents who didn't know how the USSR was actually run or its formal protocols.

Shinhachi took a deep breath. This was one of his expertises. "The Union of the Soviet Socalist Republic is a collection of nations including: Russia, the Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and parts of Mongolia, with Russia as the leader of the USSR.

One of the bottom sections of the Soviet central hierarchy is the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Central Auditing Commission. They are chosen by and report to the Party Congress. They supervise the affairs by the Party, especially the treasury and enterprises of the USSR.

The Communist Party of the Soviet Union Central Control Committee was roughly equal to the Auditing Commission, but they are responsible for punishments, overthrowing, and elimination of the Central Party figures.

These two groups have Ministers, and non-voting men called candidates, on the Politburo.

The Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Central Committee are responsible for central administration and carrying out the orders of the Politburo. They are in some effect slightly above the Control Committee and Auditing Commission. The Secretariat mainly sees to it that things are done in Russia and act as a separate organization from the Politburo, but they also have members on the Politburo.

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is supposed to be the second highest branch in the USSR, but due to their massive and poor organization they don't do much in the running of the Soviet Union.

The Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is supposed to be the supreme authority of the USSR, but for the same reasons they are not.

The true supreme authority in the Soviet Union lies in the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic. While the Secretariat carry out their orders and the Control Committee enforce their policies and protected their power and the Auditing Commission oversees finances for them, the Politburo drafts all of the Soviets doctrine and policy. They candidates who do not have the authority on voting and serve to assist their ministers or replace them.

The positions in the Politburo include:

**The ****Komityet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (KGB)**

Committee for the State Security. They usually have two ministers on the Politburo.

**The Armed Forces of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic**

Minister of Defense with representatives for the Red Army, Red Navy, and Red Air Force.

**Ministry of Internal Affairs**

Minister of Internal Affairs who were separate from the KGB.

There guys were mainly in charge of health, agriculture, education, media, etc.

**The Chairman of the State Planning Commission**

Chairman of the State Planning Committee

Minister of Economy Forecasting

Also in the past 20 years they created a new branch."

The British officer nodded and said impassively, "Very good Mr. Shinhachi. Now recite to past 20 years of Soviet history for me as best you can."

This was child's play to Shinhachi who was majoring on these things at Seattle University. "In 1990 the Soviet Union was falling apart under the then General-Secretary of the Politburo, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev. He is sometimes known in the US as the guy with a birthmark on his head the sharp of the former nation of North Vietnam.

Anyways, the USSR was falling apart and we all thought it was going to completely disintegrate as we turned our attention to the Middle East for most of the next two decades. Turns out we were wrong.

(The following events are mostly fictional. The Soviet Union collapse in 1991)

Premier Gorbachev ordered the disillusionment of the Warsaw Pact, which consisted of the Soviet Union, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary, to assimilate into the USSR. Turning this time Albania, which was part of the Warsaw Pact, took this opportunity to break away from the Soviets and become independent. They struck up several deals with the European Union and last year they joined NATO.

Although it wasn't a very popular move and many people criticized him for it, but it turns out it saved the USSR. The Poles, Czechs, Hungarians, Romanians, and Bulgarians didn't have very strong economies, but they were strong enough that the Soviets toughed it out for the next decade just barely.

In 1991 there was a revolt led by the KGB to overthrow the Politburo of the Gorbachev Administration. A candidate in the Politburo known as Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin managed to talk the KGB down which would boast him to the position of General-Secretary and Gorbachev's successor.

Yeltsin is widely viewed as by the West as the first democratic leader of the USSR, in Russia he is considered one of the most incompetent leaders Russia has ever known since Czar Nicholas Romanov II. The moron spent most of his time drunk and didn't lead very well.

It's not common knowledge, but a source of mine in Russia told me that some of the Politburo was putting things in motion to have Yeltsin eliminated. Groups outside the Politburo cannot touch the Ministers or the General-Secretary, but people on the inside of the Politburo can and since Stalin they have made it possible to have the General-Secretary eliminated. He started a long and none-too-popular war with the Chechens, also rampant Russian organize crime exploded across the world, and poverty reached an all time high, just like the Czar Nicholas Romanov II.

To save his skin, Yeltsin agreed to step down and name a man he thought the KGB would like. On New Year's Eve of 1999, Yeltsin announced to the world that he was stepping down and naming a then unheard of ex-KGB agent and current lower level official, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.

Putin was an uncomfortably close to the old Soviet strong-arm leaders like Joseph Stalin and Nikita Sergyeyevich Khrushchev. He cracked down hard on organized crime, crushed corruption, introduced new programs to begin slow growth in the Soviet economy, and stood up to the Westerners like us in a way that the Soviets hadn't seen in decades. He is not well like by us or the British who are still trying to prove he murdered an ex-KGB officer, Alexander Valterovich Litvinenko (10), who wrote a book claiming Putin used the KGB to set off bombs and blame the Chechens.

Putin kicked off the Second Chechen War which as of today the Reds has mostly suppressed the Chechens for now, but I doubt it's over.

Putin started to increase Soviet production of steel, natural gas, refined oil products, various chemical products for commercial and industrial use, and military hardware. Premier Putin decided to end his career and retire while his popularity was at an all time high rather than wait for the Soviet 'political machine' to destroy him later on.

He named a former Oligarch, which is what the Soviets call corporate leaders, to be up for consideration for the next General-Secretary. Dmitry Anatoyevich Medvedev (11), once head of Gazprom, a huge oil/natural gas corporation, as well as being a skilled businessman. Medvedev got the USSR's economy running to the point that they were once again a global power.

However Medvedev mysteriously disappeared. No one can really answer why. He was on a plane to meet with Premier Hu Jintao, who was then leader of the People's Republic of China. His plane never arrived and despite international efforts to locate him, he was never found. A CIFA report states that Medvedev's disappearance was not foul play and that fact he disappeared in one of the most remote areas of Russia, it was not a surprise we can't find him.

In the void the Politburo named the Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikolay Alexandrovich Bolotnikov was named General-Secretary. He introduced a new friendly policy with the United States of America, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and a tenuous relationship with the Federal Republic of Germany (12).

Putin, Medvedev, and Bolotnikov have brought about the Soviet Unions return as a superpower to be reckoned with.

So, sir, unless you like me to cover the civil war in Russia, I think that's it."

"When you went to Russia… why far did you penetrate their security?"

Shinhachi thought about that one carefully. That was a black ops mission, it never happened. "I didn't go into heavily secured areas, but it was deep."

"Mr. Maiwald is a very intelligent man. Did he really hack into the KGB and GRU mainframe? Is he really able to analyze the highly advance technology on the areo-space psychics level?"

Shinhachi didn't answer which the major general knew to be a yes. When agents were completely trapped, they completely stop talking.

"Does Ms. Solomon have contacts with Sayeret?"

"Yes, sir," answer Shinhachi. It wasn't a secret that Solomon had contacts with the Israeli Special Forces. Shinhachi them too, but the Israelis tended to prefer dealing with Solomon who was Jewish over Shinhachi who was Shinto or Maiwald who was a non-practicing Protestant Christian.

"She does seem threatening," said the major general looking at the picture of her in the MI6 file. He looked at her small petite figure that seemed to have no muscles, but the major general saw subtle signs that Solomon skilled killer. "I guess that this cute little Guatemalan girl who is 160cm (5ft 3in) and not even a 49kg (130lb) caught a lot of poor bastards off guard, eh?"

Shinhachi smirked a little. "Maya can do more than deceive. She is could at planning operations, usually between her and me, we can do anything. With Jason, makes a good expert on any kind of hardware and he is also an invaluable part of our team."

"You trust them?"

"Yes."

"Good, because their will be place directly under your command as your right hand men… er soldiers."

"Fine sir, but who are you? I'm not following a man if I don't know his name," said Shinhachi.

"Major General Richard Daniel Elliot of Special Air Service (SAS)," said the man.

"So what do I do, sir?" asked Shinhachi mildly carious about what was his reason for being here.

"This is Joint Task Force 90 or Operation: Compass Rose is going to be a secondary response corps. Our primary task is to coordinate joint NATO operations in the covert world."

'Compass Rose, eh?' thought Shinhachi. A white compass rose was the insignia of NATO.

Major General Elliot handed Shinhachi a binder with the stamp 'Eyes Only; Do Not Copy' on it and the words: Joint Task Force 90.

"You'll see a list of people who are in charge. I am Compass Rose Six. Brigadier General Henry Thomas Geer of United States Air Force 1st Special Operations Wing is Compass Rose Five and second in command. Oberst Anna Leonie Wörner of the Kommando Spezialkräfte (KSK) is Compass Rose Four. Captain Ralph Kelsey of United States Navy SEALs will be Compass Rose Three."

"There isn't a Two or One," said Shinhachi noticing those two spots were blank. He flipped through it. Six would be in Brussels at the NATO HQ and the main administration unit. Five would be transport and quartermaster unit. Four would be major assault wing. Three would be the major maritime operations wing. Although Two and One hadn't been chosen yet, their rolls were already decided. Two would be intelligence/counter-intelligence and misinformation wing. One would be nuclear/biological/chemical (NBC) response team.

Although each section had their own specialized role they were all equipped for combat roles and frontline duty.

"True enough Mr. Shinhachi, now please sign your transfer here and we can get started."

"Why not? This might just be fun," said Shinhachi.

Elliot took the form and then placed a small blue velvet box on the table. It looked like a jewelry box, but Shinhachi knew it was the kind of box a US military medals or officer insignias were issued in. He picked it up not knowing what this could be and opened it.

"Silver Eagles?"

"A Lt. colonel cannot be a section leader. Do you have preferences on who you work with?"

"I prefer Delta Operators. I've worked with the SEALs and I think it would be go to have people from AFISR and the USAF 1st Special Operations Wing. I would also like to work with people from MAD, GSG-9, KSK, and BND, I have a lot of friends in Germany and that isn't limited to the Bundeswehr. I've worked with the SAS and I think it would be good to have troopers from 21st SAS Regiment."

"You do understand that you're going to have to fend for yourself when it comes to personnel. I can get you some agents from Germany and I'm sure I can get people from the SAS and MI6, but only some many."

"That's okay. I can be resourceful. I have contacts and friends and friends of friends out there. I also, the man who trained me can probably get me a favor in for good support."

"Very well. You, Colonel John Saito Shinhachi of the 1st Special Operational Detachment-Delta are now Compass Rose Two."

"Understood Six, what are my orders?"

"Assemble your section as quickly as possible. Then end this war so NATO can have her resources ready for the crisis in Europe."

"Rules of engagement, sir?"

"I believe your code would be Omega 4."

"When do I leave?"

"Now."

Shinhachi placed the silver oak leafs and pinned on his silver eagles. He exited the room and headed for the nearest train station.

'Omega 4: Unrestricted conventional warfare to be conducted a nation who is in a state of open war with the United States. Non-military infrastructures, any government facility, and merchant ships belonging to the hostile nation are targets that may be engaged. Nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons may not be used,' recited Colonel Shinhachi in his head.

Shinhachi arrived in a city on the Sagami River where a NSA communication station responsible for giving him his orders from the CIFA was located. He walked into the consulate using a back entrance as to avoid the Russians standing outside. He walked down the hallway unopposed. People recognized him on sight.

"Bobby, good afternoon," said Shinhachi.

"Jack? Where the fuck have you been?" said a tall black man staring at Shinachi in surprise.

"I got transferred. You know how it is."

"Unfortunately, I do," he said with a smirk. He opened a safe and handed him two items. "This was brought in by a lady friend of yours."

"Who, Maya?"

"No, German girl."

Shinhachi was speechless, "E… Emma?"

"Quite the catch she is. Don't see a lot of women her age that seem to know who to deal with agents. Anyways, this is a file from a BND agent working with the KSK and this is a book from Ms. Heckler."

"Er… thanks," said Shinhachi taking the package and the thick envelope. "Bobby, the people I work for now will probably be sending messages directly to me from now on."

"Got it."

"However, I think I still may need to relay messages through here and I may need your services to get files sent by the most secure routes."

"Of course, it's what I do," said Johnson leaning back in his chair.

"Yes, and you haven't failed me yet," said Shinhachi. He checked his watch. He needed to meet up with Solomon and Maiwald. Lt. Pierce would be promoted to major and placed in charge with the 15th Delta Platoon. Solomon's second in command would take charge of her platoon.

His order of battle was to find a way to for NATO to break the stalemate and sabotage the PLA and PKA's war efforts and end prepare for at best Cold War II and at worst World War III.

"World War III," he laughed to himself, "now doesn't that sound fucking cliché."

* * *

Damn, this is my longest chapter. It's over 11,000 words. Hope ya'll enjoyed this chapter. I hope you learned a little about the structure of the Soviet Union because not a lot of people really understand it and most don't even know what the Politburo is.

Next chapter I was thinking of going back to 5th squad. It's been a little while since we seen them.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. It should be noted that after the fall of the Soviet Union the countries of Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Romania joined NATO, but since there is still a USSR in my story it would be impossible for me to rationally explain why these countries are in NATO and the Warsaw Pack. Albanian is not yet a NATO member state, but intends to join with Croatia in 2009. Kosovo is too recent of a country to join NATO, but they too intend to join NATO and the EU. Norway is also a member of NATO, but in a previous chapter I said they were a neutral country and I have to be consistent. Austria is not a member of NATO.

2. The Japanese-Russo War was a war between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan, fought from February 8, 1904 to September 5, 1905. It marked Japan's rise as a superpower which lasted until the end of World War II. During this war Japan invaded Korea and fought a vicious ground war against the Czar's armies. The most notable battle of the war was the Battle of Tsushima (May 27, 1905 – May 28, 1905) fought in the Strait of Korea. The Japanese lost 117 sailors and 3 torpedo boats. The Russians lost nearly their entire Baltic Sea Fleet with 4,380 sailors killed and 21 warships (many were battleships and battlecruisers) and many more were captured in the chaotic retreat or ran aground.

3. An Oblast is like a province or state. The Duma is the Russian parliament. Like in the US where we have a city assembly, a county assembly, state assembly, and a federal assembly (Congress), Russia has the Duma with sub Duma's the run city and regional areas of Russia, and during the time of the Soviet Union they had the Congress of the Russan Soviet Federative Socialist Republic as a sort of supreme Duma.

4. The Great Patriotic War is the name the Russians call World War II.

5. In the US Army the general of the army is the highest rank under the Commander in Chief (the President), but in the Soviet Union the general of the army is the second highest rank under Marshal of the Soviet Union.

6. Colonel General is a rank that does not exist in any modern NATO country. A few countries use this rank like Russia and North Korea. A Colonel General in the Russian (and Soviet) military is above a Lieutenant General, but below a General. There is no US equivalent.

7. Vauxhall Cross is located in London, United Kingdom. It is where the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), the British equivalent of Central Intelligence Agency or National Security Agency, HQ is stationed. SIS includes intelligence services like Military Intelligence: Section 6 (MI6), the British foreign intelligence service, and Military Intelligence: Section 5 (MI5), the British domestic intelligence service.

9. Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) or Federal Intelligence Service is the German equivalent of the CIA. It is one of three primary intelligence service of the Federation Republic of Germany and is the umbrella of the other most of the German intelligence services including GSG-9's (counter-terrorism) intel unit. MAD is a military service that is for counter-intelligence, but is the only one of the three services that answers directly to the Bundeswehr. Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV) or Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution is the German's domestic intelligence service.

10. Alexander Valterovich Litvinenko and Yuri Felshtinsky together wrote a book called Blowing up Russia: Terror from Within. It was a book that claimed Putin used the FSB to commit acts of terrorism and claim the Chechens did it. Litvinenko was ex-KBG and was killed in London, United Kingdom in 2006. He died of radiation poisoning which is something that is nearly impossible to happen without intent. The British Government currently hase a warrant out on Andrei Lugovoi for questioning, he is believed to be the murder. Lugovoi is currently a member of the State Duma, the Russian Parliament.

11. Dmitry Anatoyevich Medvedev is the elected successor to Vladimir Putin who is going to complete his second term in office on May 8, 2008. Members of the Politburo stay on as long as they like or until they are removed by the other ministers, but a President of the Russian Federation can only serve 2 four year terms just like in the United States. Medvedev is officially taking office on the May 8, 2008. He has no background in the KGB or its successor the FSB, though he may have served in the military because military service is compulsory for a one year tour of duty. He was once head of Gazprom the Russian state own oil/natural gas company.

12. Germany and Russia traditionally and historically do not get along. This position of bad blood dates back to pre-unified Germany and Czars of Russia.


	49. Chapter 49: Patrol

Okay, I don't intend to make this chapter any longer that the two previous chapters, but these chapters often take on a life of their own so no promises to you… or to myself

Okay, I don't intend to make this chapter any longer that the two previous chapters, but these chapters often take on a life of their own so no promises to you… or to myself.

Thank you ahgwa for your review. Sorry you had trouble understanding parts of it, but since you didn't specify what you didn't understand I can't help you. Since you have an account, you can PM or email me your questions and I'll try my best to explain.

I am pretty busy with school work and my school's senior trip so things may take a little bit, but I intend to finish this story before I go to college at the end of August and start the sequel.

I don't own any copywrite or trademarked item. Please review and/or tell a friend.

* * *

**Chapter 49: Patrol**

"Know your enemy and know yourself, and you will have the knowledge to win a hundred victories."

Sun Tzu's Art of War

**0900 Hours; October 25****th****, 2010; Temporary Japanese Base of Operations, Tabu-dong; North Gyeongsang Province, Republic of Korea**

Lt. Colonel Daijin was sitting in a tent that served as her office. It wasn't much, just a tarp made of some synthetic and plastic frame to hold it up. It was however fairly roomy on the inside. She had a work desk with phone, laptop, in and out box, and desk lamp. On another table were a printer, wireless communications radio, and radio-teletype transmitter and receiver. She also had her predecessor's nice little swivel chair and a space heater.

She was currently reading a report on the finalized codes and callsigns to be used by the Federal Army. The Japanese had had codes and callsigns before, but during the transition from the Japanese Federal Self-Defense Forces to the Japanese Federal Armed Forces the security and secrecy the Japanese had been so good at maintaining was at its lowest since the start of the US occupation in 1945. It had taken some doing, but it seemed the Federal Armed Forces were finalizing they codes and callsigns.

Lt. General Honnoji was to be referred to as Lord Jūichi-Gatsu (1) in all transmissions.

Major General Hyashi Hiroki, commander of the 6th Infatry Division, was to be referred to as Green Moon in all transmissions.

Brigadier General Akesaka Michie, commander of the 14th Reverse Mobile Infantry Brigade, was to be referred to as Sleeping Monk in all transmissions.

Colonel Hojo Mitsuhiro, commander of the 81st Heliborne/Armor Infantry Regiment, was to be referred as Yoroi Uma (Armor Horse) Six.

She, Lt. Colonel Daijin Shiori commander of the 27th Infantry Battalion, was Yoroi Uma Five.

Major Chiba Kotono, commander of the 26th Heliborne Battalion, was Yoroi Uma Four.

Major Takato Isshin, commander of the 28th Armor Battalion, was Yoroi Uma Three.

Major Kurata Masayo, commander of the 4th Utility Helicopter 'Teono' Squadron who transports the 26th Battalion, was Yoroi Uma Two.

Major Yanagisawa Tomokazu, commander of the 17th Utility Helicopter 'Haitatsu' Squadron who transports her 27th Battalion, was Yoroi Uma One.

Lt. Colonel Daijin filed the teletype transmission away. These callsigns were to be distributed to all soldiers in the 81st Regiment.

"Neya," called Lt. Colonel Daijin.

A young man wearing a white patch on his shoulders with three parallel blue stripes, one blue chevron pointing towards his neck, and two gold stars which marked him as a command master sergeant (CSM) (2) sitting at a desk next to the door stood up from his typing and quickly dashed to his commander's desk. Neya had been the Lt. colonel's aide since before the start of the war.

"Ma'am?" he said snapping to attention.

"Have these notices to all the officers and NCOs."

"Hai, ma'am."

CSM Neya walked over to a printer/scanner which he used to duplicate the memo.

While he was working the teletype started to clicked and make other mechanical noises similar to a typewriter. Daijin pushed off her desk and rolled over to the table perpendicular to her work desk with the teletype receiver.

The message read:

To: Yoroi Uma Five

From: Yoroi Uma Six

Lost contact with the enemy, break. Fighting across all fronts have ceased, break. The halt in the fighting is probably temporary, break.

Proceed with action Zulu 27, break.

Rules of Engagement: Charlie 9, break.

End Transmission

"Neya."

"Hai, ma'am?"

"I just got our marching orders."

"Understood. And they are, ma'am?"

"We are deploying one company and break them up into squads for patrols. We are to locate the enemy's front lines."

"Is that it, ma'am?"

"They are to avoid contact with the enemy main body, but may engage patrols if necessary," added Lt. Colonel Daijin.

"Hai, ma'am."

* * *

**1000 Hours; October 25****th****, 2010; Temporary Japanese Base of Operations, Tabu-dong; North Gyeongsang Province, Republic of Korea**

"Okay 2nd platoon," said 2nd Lt. Urashima pacing in front of his soldiers, "we're going to be looking for the enemy. Regimental HQ wants us to avoid the enemy's front and doubt you want to fight battalion of PLAGF Type 80s or Type 96s, right? 4th squad, you're with me, we're going to take a pair of Black Hawks and do some low level searches from the air. 5th and 6th squads, you're going take some vehicles and do land patrols. Ask the locals if they've seen Chinese or North Koreans in the area or when they last saw them. Our orders say we can engage the enemy patrols, but I'll leave that to my squad leaders to decide. We leave in 15. That is all. Dismissed."

Lt. Urashima walked down to his tent, opened the door, and smacked himself in the face with the door. As he rubbed the spot where he hit himself, his platoon sweat-dropped.

At 1015 hours, 4th squad loaded up in two UH-60J Black Hawks. The Black Hawk, an American design by Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, was a basically an improved, larger version of Bell's UH-1 Huey; not to mention the Black Hawk bore a resemblance to the Huey. The Black Hawk had two M134 Miniguns next to the doorways and the choppers could carry up to 12 soldiers plus its two gunners, pilot, and co-pilot.

6th squad loaded up into two HMMWVs.

5th squad was told to use old US Army surplus M151A2 Military Utility Tactical Truck (MUTT) Jeeps. These jeeps were smaller than the HMMWV and could only carry five people at the most and one if he/she sat on the hood. They weren't much larger than the Soviet made UAZ-469 that the North Koreans use, but it appeared to be better built. Like so many other things in the Japanese Federal Armed Forces, the MUTT Jeeps were hand-me-downs from the United States Armed Forces like the F-4E Phantom and the UH-1 Huey. The Japanese these days preferred the more modern HMMWV, but kept jeeps around for patrols on bases.

It had an M2 .50 cal in the middle of the vehicle.

"Okay, one team to a jeep, mount up squad," ordered Asou.

"Hai," responded 5th squad in a bored monotone.

Harima climbed into one of the jeeps, put his M14E3 automatic rifle above the dashboard, and started up the MUTT Jeep. Hanai sat down in the front passenger's seat and put his rifle up on the dashboard with Harima's rifle; he then hung a set of binoculars around his neck. Jupei sat in the back seat with her Type 89 with the M203 grenade launcher mounted on it resting in her lap; she too had a pair of binoculars. Kitsumori dropped his M60E4 in the seat next to Jupei's and mounted the M2.

"Kenji, you want me to drive?" asked Hanai worried that Harima may have a little too much on his mind. Harima had also been spacing out some.

"Can you drive?" asked Harima pulling down on his sunglasses and raising an eyebrow.

"… point taken."

Echo Company drove out of the compound and past the guard posts. 3rd squad, 6th squad, and 4th squad would be searching the valley for the Communist. 1st squad, 2nd squad, and 7th squad would search the mountains east of Tabu-dong. 5th squad, 9th squad, and 8th squad would head up into the mountains east of Tabu-dong.

5th squad was keeping pace with 9th squad who were also using MUTT Jeeps. The MUTT was nice, but the labels were still in English and the speedometer was in miles per hour instead of kilometers per hour.

Following 5th squad was a pair of forward artillery spotters and a sniper team in a jeep of their own. Also riding with the command team was a corporal in the RoKA who would translate for 5th squad.

9th squad drove up a paved road heading west while 5th squad took a dirt road heading northwest.

The road was narrow, which was why they were using jeeps. It was steep slow going and it didn't help that no one in the assault team seem to know how to drive, especially Abarai who was 'driving' for lack of a better word. The fire team, who were behind the assault team, watched as poor Fujiwara clung on to the post the M2 was mounted on, for dear life.

Mori and Yamako, were the few among 5th squad who were legally licensed to drive and they was doing quite well. Asou was also a licensed driver, but he preferred to keep an eye out for the enemy. Harima was enjoying the drive because it required his for attention. It took his mind off the many questions he was trying to answer since yesterday when he got that letter.

'How did I miss this?' he wondered. 'Am I so stupid that I missed her feelings for me for TWO FUCKING YEARS!!'

"Kenji!" shouted Hanai. Harima slammed on the breaks. Abarai had stalled his engine somehow and Harima barely avoided rear ending him. Harima pushed up his sunglasses and rubbed his eyes, he needed to pay better attention. Meanwhile, Kurosaki was yelling at Abarai. They exchanged a loud string of insults until Ikuro smacked them both on the backs of their heads. Fujiwara took the wheel.

The little patrol continued more smoothly.

After about an hour and a half, they reached a service road. They were near the summit. The service road ran along a wind farm of wind turbines that stood around a 120m tall. 5th squad was told that the Chinese and North Koreans might have patrols of their own near power lines, telephone lines, and TV and radio antennas which were usually placed on high places for maximum range.

A lone van was sitting near one of the turbines whose blades weren't spinning. They appeared to be three men working on a circuit box. As they got closer they, 5th squad could see the men appeared to be in their late 40s or early 50s and were wearing some kind of power company uniform with white hardhats. When the workers became aware of 5th squad they dropped their tools and looked like they were considering running for their van, but 5th squad was too close to them.

The workers soon saw that they weren't faced with Chinese or North Korean soldiers, but they didn't seem to be comforted by the fact they were facing Japanese soldiers. Asou got out of the lead jeep, living his rifle on the dashboard and his helmet on his seat. He was hoping this lack of armament would ease the Korean civilians.

Sang-byeong (corporal) Hong-chul followed Asou, but he opted to keep his K-1A carbine at his hip with the strap slung over his shoulder.

"Annyeong haseyo (hello)," said Asou using a formal Korean greeting he read in a pamphlet NATO had handed out. "Ilbon-eo reul hashimnikka (Do you speak Japanese)?"

"Anio (No)," answered one of the workmen who were eyeing the 5th squad suspiciously.

"Yeong-eo reul hashimnikka (Do you speak English)?" asked Asou.

"Ne, jogeum-man (Yes, a little)," answered a second man. Asou didn't know what he said though.

"SSgt. Asou," said Cpl. Hong-chul, "I think it would be faster if you let me handle this."

"Be my guest," said Asou with a shrug.

Hong-chul spoke in rapid Korean. He was questioning the workmen. He wasn't sure whether they were real workmen or lookouts. The men showed company ID tags to Hong-chul. Hong-chul then demanded if they had seen the Chinese or North Koreans. The men exchanged looks.

"There are farmers in this area. It's pretty isolated up here and Communist rove around the villages and steal food and bully the locals," said one of the men in Korean.

"Do the locals know we are liberating the Republic?" asked Hong-chul.

"We didn't even know," said the same man. "The North Koreans keep a very tight hold on information. It's what keeps the resistance from growing north of Taegu."

"Is this really happening?" asked the youngest of the three men. "Are we really being liberated?"

"Ne (yes), the landings started weeks ago. The Army is back with the full backing of NATO," said Hong-chul reassuringly.

"What about the Japs?" asked the second man.

"They don't intend to stay. Once this war is over they plan on going back to their little islands," said Hong-chul quietly.

"I don't trust them."

"Well too bad. They're part of NATO now so they have even stronger Western backing than before. Whether we like it or not, they are here until the war is over."

With that the workmen when back to their business and 5th squad continued their way up the service road.

"What did they say?" asked Asou.

"What you'd expect. The enemy is keeping our presence tight lipped."

"You mean people haven't noticed?"

"The planes and helicopters yes, but they having seen ground troops yet. They also said the PLA and PKA are bullying the local farmers…" Hong-chul's voice trailed off.

"Your people don't want **us** here, do they?" asked Ishida shrewdly.

Hong-chul didn't meet his eyes, but nodded.

"It's been 55 years since the Pacific War ended," said Yamako.

"We don't forget that easily," said Hong-chul halfheartedly.

"You also have to remember that almost 2 and a half generations have passed since the war. We aren't remotely close to our great grandfathers we raped and abused your country," said Toyotomi.

Harima was driving along behind the fire team as usual. Fujiwara was a much better driver and with the road much smoother, Harima was able to brood again.

'What do I say to her?' he wondered.

They drove over a small knoll and they were surrounded by rice paddies. Up ahead the service road they were on intersected with a two lane road. Around the intersection was a small community, likely of farmers.

Hanai picked up his Type 89 from the dash and put the butt of the rifle on his seat. Jupei slid the M203 up on its rail and put a 40x46mm fragmentation round in it and then slid the M203 back to its original position.

They drove into the little village. The place seemed to consist of a couple of markets, a restaurant of sorts, and a smattering of shacks that served as homes.

At first it appeared the place was deserted, but once in the village 5th squad saw that all the villagers were crowed around a single building whose doors were ripped off its hinges. To Harima, it appeared to be a storehouse because he could see rice, soy bean, and a stray potato lying on the ground. The villagers all appeared to be ranging from the ages of 40 to 80, but there were also children under the age of 15 and a couple of people in their 20s and 30s. Harima guessed the most of the younger villagers were either dragged off by the North Koreans and Chinese or joined the resistance.

The villagers were clearly enraged by whoever stole their food and the tire prints left little question as to who did it. Judging by the tire tracks it was left from a Beijing BJ2020S or UAZ-469 and the prints of larger truck like the Ural or deuce-and-a-half.

Asou stepped out of the lead jeep and was surrounded by a mob of Koreans gesticulating furiously at their storehouse and yelling in rapid Korean.

"Ihaega ankamnida (I don't understand)," said Asou desperately reading from the little pamphlet. "Ilbon-eo reul hashimnikka?"

The mob didn't seem to hear him and appeared to be too upset to notice Asou had no idea what they were saying. Cpl. Hong-chul was trying desperately trying to make himself heard.

Hanai was looking at the crowd. Things were getting out of control. He wondered if they should fire a few shots into the air to restore order, but feared he might incite a riot.

Harima looked at the crowd, some of whom were saying things to him, but Harima didn't understand any of it. Suddenly, however, Harima noticed a man in his 40s was slowly silencing the mob. Eventually this lone man had all the villagers silenced, they were still angry and looked like they wanted to keep yelling though.

"Who are you?" asked the man who appeared to be the village chieftain or something along the lines of a leader.

"I am Cpl. Hong-chul, of the Republic of Korea Army. This man next to me is Staff Sergeant Asou, of the Japanese Federal Army. We are looking for the enemy."

"Those bastards in the so called People's Liberation Army were just here about an hour ago."

"How many?"

"Around 20 or so men. They came in a jeep and a truck, beat up one of the farmers as he was locking up the storehouse, and then took our food."

"Which way did they go?"

"West."

* * *

**1300 Hours; October 25****th****, 2010; local road, somewhere on the mountains west of Tabu-dong; North Gyeongsang Province, Republic of Korea**

"Hold up," ordered Asou. He looked at a small town. He saw a truck. Looking through his binoculars he identified the truck as a People's Liberation Army Ground Forces Shaanqi SX2110 3.5 ton 6x6 truck, complete with a red star outlined with yellow and the Chinese character for eight one in the middle of the star.

"Sniper team, spotter team, you guys hang back," ordered Asou via the helmet mounted radio. "Keep us covered from here. Echo 5-5, have your team follow me to the south side. Echo 5-9, go to the east side of the village and do as you see fit. Echo 5-13, take your team to the west side. All of you stay out of sight."

"Echo 5-5 copies, out," said Ikuro.

"Echo 5-9, understood, out," said Hanai.

"Echo 5-13, moving now, out," said Noriyori.

"This is Kuroi Yumi (Black Archer) 2-1," said sniper's spotter (3). "We set up shop and standing by, over."

"Good, what can you see?"

"I see three contacts, probably more. It looks like a sergeant armed with a handgun and two privates with ol' Type 81s," reported the spotter looking through the powerful little telescope like scope mounted on a tripod low enough for him the see while in the prone. Next to him was a sniper armed with a Remington 700 or as it was called in the US Army, the M-24 (M-40 in USMC). The sniper had his bipod set up and the covers on his scope removed. He had his rifle trained on the Chinese NCO.

The spotter zoomed in with his scope and could see a green patch on the shoulder with a silver pin on the inner part of the insignia, a silver star with two crossed silver in the middle, and on the outer part of the insignia was two silver chevrons, the insignia of a NCO Class 4, the equivalent of a Sergeant 1st Class. He was pointing a gun a group of men and women and appeared to be ordering them to do something.

"This is Omega Wolf 4-3," said one of the artillery observers. "We have company. A 6x6 truck is inbound with a squad."

"Shit," groaned Asou. "Okay, 4th has a Black Hawk in the area armed for gunship runs. I'll call it in."

Toyotomi passed Asou the microphone and Asou began to call for the UH-60J that was currently somewhere north of them.

"What the ETA on that second squad of tangos?" asked Ikuro.

"I'd say 5 minutes," said Omega Wolf 4-3.

"Teono (Hatchet) 1-8 is inbound, ETA 2.5 minutes. I'll have them intercept the reinforcements," said Asou. "Until then, keep your heads down."

"Understood, out," said the soldiers under Asou's command.

About two minutes and 20 seconds later, a Japanese Federal Army UH-60J Black Hawk appeared low on the horizon. Harima through a set of binoculars watched the Black Hawk drop its disposable fuel tanks mounted on the little winglets. Listening to his helmet mounted radio, Harima listened as the observers guided the UH-60J to its target.

"Teono 1-8, change course to 155. Use your Miniguns and Mk. 19s on that truck. Do not engage if it gets too close to the village, over."

"Teono 1-8 copies, starting gun runs now, over and out."

The Black Hawk exposed its left side so that a woman manning a Minigun and a man mounting a Mk. 19 automatic grenade launcher in the doorway could let loose on the SX2110.

A volley of 40x53mm high explosive rounds rained down on the truck and hiding it in a cloud of orange and yellow flames. Harima saw bodies fly into the air and crash into the ground. A couple of soldiers saw the incoming rounds and jumped from the truck only to be cut to shreds by 7.62x51mm match steel jacketed cartridges. When the dust the Minigun kicked up cleared, the Chinese squad was lying dead in and around the burning wreckage of the SX2110.

"Kuroi Yumi 2-1 to Echo 5-1, I seen the PLA squad. Looks like our bird got their attention."

"Kuroi Yumi 2-2, do you have a target?" asked Asou.

"Hai, I have a visual on the hostile squad leader, over."

"… fire when ready."

"Hai, sir."

Kuroi Yumi 2-1 began to relay wind velocity and range to the target to 2-2. He then gave 2-2 clearance to take the shot. Kuroi Yumi 2-2 released the safety with his thumb and applied pressure to the trigger. He took a deep breath and relaxed his body.

A loud bang rang out over the area and the NCO Class 4 collapsed as a spurt of red flew from the back of his head as the 7.62x51mm M118LR ball special cartridge went through the man's head.

"Tango down, relocating."

A couple of Chinese soldiers came out of the village and were heading for the truck. Asou gave the order to open fire and Abarai and Toyotomi beginning firing the M2s.

Harima gunned the engine and stormed into the east side of the village. Harima was trying to keep low and had his Colt .45 ready to fire in its holster. A confused PLAGF soldier ran into the street and approached them, not realizing they were Japanese. Two shots from Kitsumori dropped the man where he stood and Harima swerved to avoid running him over.

The villagers were scattering which created chaos and made it impossible to see the Chinese. A shot ricocheted off the side of the jeep and Harima turned hard into a gap between two shacks. He turned around on the north side of the village and drove back in. Korean farmers dived out of their way leaving two PLA soldiers exposed to Hanai and Kitsumori. As they passed through the village a PLA soldier opened up with a QBB-95 light machine gun, but was fell backwards and slid down the wall of a shack after Jupei caught him with a 3 round burst.

In the middle of the village three PLAGF soldiers were standing with their hands in the air. The engineer team and fire team had them surrounded. A couple of minutes later the rest of 5th squad and their companions were on a flat stretch of ground outside the village. They had to get their prisoners out fast before an angry mob of villagers had time to vent their rage on the Chinese.

Harima and Hanai basically tossed the bound Chinese soldiers onto Teono 1-8 once they landed. They could only hope the Chinese would talk, but Harima doubted a PLAGF NCO Class 1 (Corporal) and two privates of the PLAGF reserve units could tell Regimental or Brigade HQ much of anything.

* * *

**1600 Hours; October 25****th****, 2010; local road, somewhere on the mountains west of Tabu-dong; North Gyeongsang Province, Republic of Korea**

They were near the pass to the valley north of the NATO perimeter. Technically they were not in NATO territory, but in a sort of void where it wasn't clear whether the PLA and PKA held it or it was abandoned for NATO to seize.

"Sir," said Ishida looking through his scope, "I think I see a radar site."

The group held up. Ishida was right; there was a mobile radar trailer up ahead by a small radio antenna. There was also a North Korean flag. This was the first time they'd seen the PKA for a while. From what they could see it was a radar site set up to detect NATO fighter-bombers if they tried flying north up the pass. This was a sign. If they were watching a potential hole in their defenses then there must be enemy units nearby.

Kuroi Yumi 2-1 and 2-2 set up on a small knoll that had tall grass to hide them from view and gave them a good look down on the enemy. The PKA seemed to have built a small shallow trench system around a generator vehicle and radar antenna trailer. There also was a BTR-70K command vehicle, a variation of the standard BTR-70 armored personnel carrier, hooked up to the radio antenna. There were also two SA-6 Gainful mobile SAM launchers. The SAMs made a chopper approach from Teono Squadron or Haitatsu (delivery) Squadron. There was however little in the way of defending infantry.

Asou began to think of a plan of attack. There only appeared to be a squad of soldiers plus maybe a dozen air-defense crew and the radar operators. Asou knew from one of the field manuals that surface-to-air-missile launchers like the 2K12 Kub, or SA-6 'Gainful', usually had a truck nearby with additional missiles and a crane to load them onto the racks, but they were no where in sight.

Asou knew that he could either: A) call in the Wild Weasels, who were specially trained to take out radar and triple-A sites. B) us the snipers to take out most of the enemy and sweep with his team. C) Storm the site with 5th squad.

B ran the risk attracting unwanted enemy air or armor support. C just wasn't a smart idea, period. A, sounded like the best.

The artillery observers had a satellite communication radio. The radio needed to be aimed towards a communication satellite in geosynchronous orbit. Although it was a slightly difficult process, it was much harder to detect than a conventional wireless radio and they were too close to an enemy com site.

The Wild Weasels were a special group of USAF pilots who were trained to get triple-A sites to activate their radar or supporting radar vehicles and destroy them. The USAF in 2009 trained Japanese, British, and British pilots to do the same thing.

A flight of F-4EJ Phantoms were flying low over the mountain towards the indicated radar/SAM site. The Phantoms were well equipped planes with sophisticated radar detection systems.

"This is Green Weasel 1-1," said the flight lead. "We're 90 klicks out. Power up your radars and keep them on standby. Arm your HARMs and get ready to fire, over."

"Hai, major," responded the other three planes.

Normally they wouldn't use such stealthy approaches, but get the enemies attention and then destroy them when they revealed their locations. Green Weasel 1-1 knew that their was a command vehicle, some kind of power generator, a radar trailer, and two Gainfuls, but Gainful was usually deployed in groups of four plus four munitions trucks and a crane.

"Major, the enemy's detected us!" shouted Green Weasel 1-3 when an active radar scan locked onto them.

"So have we," said Green Weasel 1-1. The radar scans gave the Phantoms the exact positions of the known enemy SAMs.

"Fox Three," called out the pilots as they dropped 5 AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARM). Green Weasel flight 1 jinked right the moment they dropped their HARMs which after a second ignited and streaked across the tall grass on top of the mountain at 2,280 km/h. HARMs were attracted towards the radar pulses coming from the enemy. The North Koreans didn't seem to realize the danger they were in, to them it appeared that the enemy planes had detected the Gainfuls and were trying to find a weakness in their defenses.

The first HARM smashed into the radar dish on the trailer and destroyed it immediately. The second one hit the SA-6 dead on. The third hit the telephone pole that BTR-70K was hooked up to and pelted it with shrapnel. The fourth missile overshot the second Gainful, but the shrapnel hit the exposed missiles on their racks and caused them to explode. The fifth missile appeared to be aiming for the radar trailer, but with it destroyed the HARM no longer had a target and it smashed into the ground. It seemed to have killed a couple of soldiers in the open.

Harima saw the Wild Weasels turn and fire at targets on something out of their line of site on the slope below them. There were several loud explosions and Harima guessed they must have hit additional equipment.

5th squad droved forward to sweep up the survivors. Harima saw a little movement, but the M2 dealt with that very quickly. The generator vehicle was torn up by shrapnel. When Ikuro led her team inside of the truck she found all the operators dead at their controls. Many were missing hands and a couple were completely decapitated. One woman slumped over her control panel looked alive until Abarai attempted to move her. She fell off her seat revealing her stomach had been ripped open.

Harima walked over to the edge of the ledge the SAM/radar site was on. He looked down and saw on a road below two more burning Gainfuls and logistical vehicles. Harima looked around at the mountains they were on. It was a great view.

"Yakumo-san would love this," he said out loud. 'Fuck, I forgot about that…'

He sighed and kicked a chuck of metal from the radar dish down the slope. He looked up a little into the valley. He could see a small city way below them. He saw a lot of traffic heading east towards the coast. Nothing out of the ordinary here… wait.

'Since when was there this much civilian traffic near the front?' he wondered.

Harima pulled out his binoculars. The city was in an area where crossroads met. There was a passage that led eastward towards the Kunwi which was on a highway that intersected with the main highway at Tabu-dong. There was a valley that led northwards to Sangju were the Chinese appeared to be funneling their southeastern Korean troops through. The last passage led directly south to Tabu-dong.

On the south passage was a bunch of poorly camouflaged tanks and artillery in a bunch of trenches and makeshift bunkers. They weren't heavy defenses, but they wouldn't be easy to break through. He could see all kinds of trucks hauling artillery pieces and tractor trailers with tanks on them. On the north side of the city was a small airport where a couple of helicopters were, but they were too far away to ID.

* * *

**2219 Hours; October 25****th****, 2010; Temporary Japanese Base of Operation, Tabu-dong; North Gyeongsang Province, Republic of Korea**

Lt. Colonel Daijin was looking at the photos taken by 5th squad of E Company. The enemy was too far away for the photos to be very enlightening, but her soldiers had given accounts of what they saw. She began to write a teletype message to Division HQ:

'To: Green Moon

From: Yoroi Uma Five

Echo 5 squad destroyed hostile eyes and talons, break. Same squad made contact, I repeat they made contact, break. Initial report is that hostile movement is from the whitelands and towards the rising sun, break. Movement leaves the bluelands open to the pilgrims journey to the whitelands, break. Recommend a chat on the matter at your earliest convince, break.

End transmission.'

* * *

The end of Chapter 49. For chapter 50 I think I'm gonna' try something different. Hope ya'll enjoyed this chapter. Sorry that Harima hasn't made any progress on his love life, but let's remember who we are dealing with here. He'll come to an understanding eventually… or will he? Yeah, he probably will. I'm going to try to finish this story before I hit chapter 60, but seeing how this damn thing takes on a life of its own I can't even promised myself such a thing.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. Jūichi-Gatsu literally means eleven moon. What it really means in English is November because November is the 11th month of the year. Appendix 5 of Chapter 47 I said the Gatsu is the counter for months. Getsu is the Japanese word for moon. It can also be use for months, but when using it for months the Japanese say Gatsu, which is an alternative pronunciation. Japanese months are easy because you put a number in front of it and part Gatsu after the number. The Japanese months of the year are as follows: Ichi-Gatsu (January), Ni-Gatsu (February), San-Gatsu (March), Shi-Gatsu (April), Go-Gatsu (May), Roku-Gatsu (June), Shichi-Gatsu (July), Hachi-Gatsu (August), Ku-Gatsu (September), Jū-Gatsu (October), Jūichi-Gatsu (November), and Jūni-Gatsu (December).

2. Command Master Sergeant is the second highest non-commissioned officer rank in the United States Army. There isn't actually a NCO rank above Master Sergeant in the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Forces. Master Sergeant's rank insignia in the JGSDF has the same appearance as I described CSM, but it only has one star.

3. Most people think that snipers are lone hunters who do all the work on their own. In the past this was true, but since the American Revolution when the first recognizable snipers appeared the 'Art of Sniping' has changed a lot. In most modern armies like Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States, a sniper team comprises of two soldiers. The first soldier is a spotter whose job is to be the leader, navigator, radioman, planner, observer, and (if they're spotted) to defend the sniper from enemies attack at close range. The second soldier is the shooter, while the spotter does most of the thinking and planning, the sniper is free to put all his concentration on finding his target and spying and/or killing the target. A sniper in the US Army is usually armed with an M-21, Remington 700, or something similar whereas the spotter usually carries an M4A1 carbine or the M-16A4 assault rifle.


	50. Chapter 50: Same Story, Different Side

Damn, I can't believe I'm starting the 50th chapter of Brothers in Arms: Eastern World Exploding

Damn, I can't believe I'm starting the 50th chapter of Brothers in Arms: Eastern World Exploding. For this chapter I wanted to try new perspective, meaning the other side. We have followed primarily members of the Japanese Federal Armed Forces/Self-Defense Forces, members of the United States Armed Forces, and in some places members of other NATO nations. In this chapter we are going to see life from the side of the People's Liberation Army.

It should be noted that the rank Colonel Senior is the Chinese equivalent of a US Army Brigadier General. Colonel seniors are brigade commanders. A ,otor rifle unit is the Russian equivalent of a mechanized infantry unit.

I don't own any trademarked or copywrite items. Please review and/or tell a friend.

* * *

**Chapter 50: Same Story, Different Side**

"We realized after the war that we had a lot in common with the Germans…

But we both had jobs to do and we had to do them."

A quote from one of the soldiers of Easy Company; 101st Airborne Division from the book Band of Brothers by Stephan E. Ambrose

**0900 Hours; October 25****th****, 2010; People's Liberation Army Ground Forces forward HQ, 40km north of the front; North Gyeongsang Province, (occupied) Republic of Korea**

His name was Shao Wung. He was only 20 years old and was a captain in the People's Liberation Army Ground Forces. He was an aide to Lieutenant General Hei Tang, commander of the IV Corps of the 2nd Army.

Wung was not supposed to be here. He was the son of one the Party Members, a candidate to the Ministry of Interior of the People's Republic of China's Politburo. He was however drafted into the military like all Chinese citizens, it was required that all would serve in a B-class unit for two years. Wung however was studying the United States and its relations to NATO in the Central University of Beijing which he was attending and due to his advanced knowledge on NATO he was transferred to an A-class unit.

Like the Soviet Union, B-class units were the reservists and A-class units were the regulars. Unlike their Soviet counter-parts, the Chinese B-class units were mostly of young men and women, whereas in Russia, they had a much larger amount of older soldiers.

It was not uncommon for NATO to make several mistakes about China and Russia or her allies. Wung had written an essay on it stating that China was not as close to Russia as most Westerners thought. The two countries had nearly gone to war over disputed borders that were secured as the sovereign land of the People's Republic. China had also had multiple disputes over borders with Vietnam and India. Westerners did not normally understand this or were even aware of it, the West only seemed to understand that China did not get along with Taiwan.

Wung had gotten up and assembled his notes for the Lt. General. He checked his uniform and left for the command post.

He passed several armed soldiers who saluted the young man. Wung saluted back in manner befitting an officer and son of a Party member. The XI Corps was just deployed to Korea to reinforce the IV Corps.

"Shao," said the old general in his usual casual greeting. Lt. General Tang was a man in his 60s. He had graying hair, a beard that was a couple of centimeters long, and thin framed glasses.

"General, zao'an (good morning)."

"Shao, the general and I feel we need to take an evaluation of the enemy before we can begin," said Tang. The four major generals and more than a dozen colonel seniors, nodded.

"About NATO, sir? I'm sure the IV Corps has plenty of data on…"

"We would prefer an expert opinion," said Major General Xhung, commander of the 99th Motor Rifle Division.

Wung blushed, it was highly uncommon for senior officers to ask for such a young man's opinion, ever, in the People's Liberation Army… or the People's Republic of China for that matter.

"Well… NATO is a highly diverse coalition led primarily by the United States, United Kingdom, Belgium, France, and Germany. The diversity is usually mistaken as weakness, particularly by our Soviet comrades."

There were a few laughs at the Soviets expense. China hated being thought of as subservient to the USSR, which was far from true. China was much more economically powerful than the Soviets and their military was could, with careful planning, overpower the Soviets if the Central Government desired.

"NATO's diversity actually is quite effective. Unlike the Soviets who think we all need to use the exact same weapons for all their members, NATO merely standardizes weapons cartridges and makes their systems compatible. What they do, to great effect, is to create a range of equipment and pool the best. German and Belgian small arms are considered the best and are therefore the most common arms in NATO. Modern German tanks and British older surplus tanks are considered the best tanks at an economical price. American planes and helicopters are considered the best of their kind and are the most common in NATO, that or there are close copies of them. American planes and helicopters are considered the finest of their kind and are the most sought after in NATO, particularly the F-15, F-16, AH-64, UH-60, UH-1, C-130, and E-3."

"And Japan?" asked Colonel Senior Zhui, commander of the 41st Infantry Brigade.

"There is not much data provided by the State," said Wung. "The Japanese are a highly inexperienced unit of soldiers. Mostly they are a civilian rabble who follow the Americans like loyal sheep to the slaughter. The Japanese have a much smaller amount of youth than us-"

"That may be because our nation makes up roughly 1/6th of the global population (1)."

"And yet NATO is slowly overwhelming us with their high technology weapons and unpredictable maneuvers."

"They methods are unpredictable because you are not looking at the mindset of one nation, but numerous nations, each with a different view. Still the Japanese have the most inexperienced force in NATO. They haven't fought a war since 1945."

"So we should attack the Japanese at Tabu-dong as planned by General Xiao," said Lt. General Tang. "It should be where NATO's lines are weakest."

The day went on with long discussions about other things like the economic situation in China. China was starting to hurt from the American trade embargo. What was worse was that the Americans, although hurt far worse, were taking things in stride and recovering. When this war ended, the Department of Economy projected that China would lose 30 percent of their business to Central and South America, 10 percent to Europe, and 15 percent to Taiwan. At the least, the People's Republic would lose 50 percent of their economic dealings to other nations and this was not including Japan when they were at their original state before the invasion or the possibility that South Korea would be retaken by NATO. With new countries emerging, China would still prosper, but it was a sore spot for them. This war that started by the North Koreans and joined by China to make them the soul economic power in Eastern Asia would ultimately hurt them. America was suffering, but it appeared they were determined to survive without Chinese goods.

'How great that America unites like this for the first time since World War II now of all times,' thought Wung wryly. 'We must have really pissed them off or they just hate us that much.'

"Did you hear that?" asked Colonel Senior Long.

"Yes… it sounded like an explosion," said one of the officers.

A soldier can in the room, "Air raid! NATO planes just blew up the North Korean radar station on Hill 691!"

The officers immediately headed for their designated shelter.

After a few hours they were told it was safe.

"NCO class 4, what just happened?" demanded Wung.

"They were Japanese planes, Captain. We don't know how they slipped by our defenses… wait I'm getting a report from a patrol…"

There was a pause.

"Xiexie (thank you), base out," said the NCO class 4. "Captain, they found signs of a NATO patrol. Some of our mountain patrols reported seeing a Japanese helicopter and there were signs of a jeep of some kind drove in close to the PKA radar site and inspected the site."

'What does this mean?' wondered the captain. 'Japanese pilots and sailors somewhat skilled, but their land forces shouldn't be capable of slipping past our patrols.'

* * *

**0800 Hours; October 27****th****, 2010; People's Liberation Army Ground Forces forward HQ, 40km north of the front; North Gyeongsang Province, (occupied) Republic of Korea**

Wung had spent the last two days reading up on the Japanese using a mix of Chinese, North Korean, Soviet, and even one American report.

It was the American one that mostly interested him. It was an intercepted letter from NATO HQ in Brussels to American West Pacific/East Asia HQ Yokohama.

'Dear Admiral Benson,

Just got done with meeting the Japanese. You're right, the commander of the Japanese Navy is quite a piece of work. We really underestimated the Japanese strength. Their Navy is much larger and stronger than we anticipated. They are also a lot sneakier than we thought. I'll explain later. We went over their land forces strength it they are now fighting on par with some of our divisions over here. I pity the PLA and PKA.

Sincerely Admiral Merkerson.'

"Shao?"

Wung yelped and sent papers flying as he fell over in his chair. He never heard Lt. General Tang enter his room.

"Sir, you surprised me."

"Darao yixia (excuse me), I didn't me to scare you. I just wished to know why you have shut yourself in your room."

"Research, sir," he said holding up the letter. The Lt. general didn't speak English so the letter made no sense to him.

"What does it say?"

"Duibuqi (sorry), sir. It is a letter from the commander of American naval operations in Europe to the American commander of naval operations here. He says they have underestimated the Japanese."

"How so?"

"It wasn't specific enough, but they seem to be craftier than thought."

"What does this imply?"

"I don't know, but it shouldn't be too worrisome."

A 2nd lieutenant popped into the room sweating profusely. "Captain! Lt. General! A German brigade is attacking our left flank! Major General Xia'ao is requesting our backup!"

"Very well, the 99th will move to assist the 70th Infantry Division."

Wung quickly packed his things, left a note to be sent to his father, put on a Class-C combat uniform, and ran for a Type 86 WZ-506, a Chinese version of the BMP-1K mobile command APC. Unlike the standard Type 86, or BMP-1, the WZ-506 fitted to carry officers instead of soldiers and communication equipment.

The PLAGF 99th Motor Rifle Division was moving rapidly for the 70th Infantry Division's position. The 70th was supposed to attack the Japanese infantry regiment at Tabu-dong. It would really throw off the Chinese plans if they lose the 70th.

Captain Wung wrung his hands nervously, he'd never seen battle before; nor had many of the officers in the IV Corps and the Germans were supposed to be some of the most intelligent and most well equipped soldiers in NATO.

They arrived at Kunwi where the 70th Infantry Division was stationed for their attack. The 99th was coming down the mountains to Kunwi. Wung opened a hatch and looked down at the south side of the city. He felt his heart stop, there were several tanks and anti-tank guns lying in smoldering pieces and they were not Germans.

Within an hour they reached the division HQ. They found a colonel senior at a desk yelling into a phone.

"I don't care what the Air Force says, those Japs are killing us! Tell them to get their fucking act together or I can't defend their airstrips!"

The colonel slammed down the phone. It was then he noticed Lt. General Tang.

"Lt. General!" said the colonel senior snapping to attention, "I didn't expect you to show up. I was only expecting a brigade to come to our aid."

"I sent over the 99th Motor Rifle Division and I personally wanted to w33 the division in our counter-attack for myself."

"Very well, sir. I am Colonel Senior Mao Jiang, I was commander of the 56th Armor Regiment until my superior was killed this morning. Now I command this division."

"What is the situation?" asked Lt. General Tang.

"Dire," said Jiang walking over to a map on a table. "The Germans attack our far left flank and my superior moved two regiments over to engage them, but that left our center line exposed and the Japs plowed through it. We think we've identified them as the 6th Infantry Division, one of their best and most experienced units."

"Surely the Japanese aren't that strong," said Wung.

Colonel Senior Jiang smiled wryly, "You're one of those Party loyalists, ain't you? Well son, let me tell you, I believe in the People's Republic and I'll die defending it, but you can't believe everything they tell you. I was an observer with a PKA's III Corps as they attack the Japs at Pusan. A single Jap infantry battalion held off an entire corps. They are a lot like us. They come from an ancient warrior culture, they are very proud honor based society, and they are fierce enemies. They are also sneaky bastards, I still can't figure out where this division came from. Of course, unlike us the Japs are culturally, linguistically, and ethnically united."

There was an explosion and plaster fell from the ceiling. Tang and his entourage all crotched or hit the ground, but Jiang made was unfazed by the explosion.

"That's a Jap arty regiment. They use American M777 155mm howitzers. They are trying to shell our artillery, supply depots, and command posts. They fighter-bombers come in low and destroy our air defenses… we may not win Lt. General, this whole thing looks really bad."

"I'll be the judge of that."

* * *

**0700 Hours; October 28****th****, 2010; People's Liberation Army Ground Forces 70****th**** Infantry Division forward command bunker, Kunwi; North Gyeongsang Province, (occupied) Republic of Korea**

Captain Wung has carrying a PLAGF Type 04 assault rifle, it was a little more powerful and accurate than the Type 95 bullpup assault rifle, but was not as compact or maneuverable. He was in a command bunker on a hill that over looked the front lines from the southwest side of Kunwi. He reached for a radio, but his was stopped by Colonel Senior Jiang.

"Don't use the radios if you can help it. The Japs listen for our wireless communications and zero in with their guns and planes. That's how my superior died."

Wung withdrew his hand as though the radio was on fire.

"Here they come," said Jiang.

A column of tanks appeared out of nowhere. They were merely 800m from their lines. The tanks have foliage attached to it, it appeared they had camouflaged themselves during the night and snuck in close to the Chinese lines. The Chinese guns opened fire and destroyed several Japanese tanks.

The Japanese Type 90s and Type 74s fired their smoke dischargers and hid in the clouds. Colonel Senior Jiang grabbed a LAN line phone and yelled, "All units take cover!"

Lt. General Tang was about to ask why when they heard the shriek of rockets from MLRSs (multiple launch rocket system). The 227mm rockets left thick smoke trails from their solid fuel motors. They began a graceful downward arc. Some of the munitions exploded in midair raining shrapnel on the infantry and the rest smashed into the ground with massive a explosion.

During the chaos of the Japanese rocket barrage, Japanese planes roared in. Wung recognized them as old American built F-4Gs, a special version of the designed to kill radar sites and SAMs. They dropped a payload of long thin missiles which went straight for Chinese surface-to-air missiles and supporting radar vehicles.

The Japanese tanks returned in greater numbers. They were spread out to make it harder for artillery to wipe them out in one barrage.

"Call in air support," ordered Lt. General Tang.

"You should do it, sir," said Jiang. "The Air Force says they are still waiting for replacement equipment and won't send any of their remaining planes or helicopters. I think they will listen to you though."

Lt. General Tang nodded. The People's Liberation Army Air Force could be so overly cautious sometimes and now was not the time for that.

"This is Blue Dragon," said Lt. General Tang into a radio. "I request immediate helicopter support to grid Mike-Echo 1021, over."

* * *

**1000 Hours; October 28****th****, 2010; Naichō listening post, location classified; North Gyeongsang Province, (occupied) Republic of Korea**

A Japanese 2nd Lieutenant was listening to a Chinese officer calling himself Blue Dragon. This was a new callsign to him, but he recognized the callsign who responded, Steel Sparrow who was a major general in the PLAAF. The call was for helicopters to counter the 6th Division's assault on Kunwi.

The lieutenant entered the callsign into a Naichō database. He got back:

Name: Hei Tang

Rank: Lieutenant General

Affiliation: People's Liberation Army Ground Forces

Unit: 1st Army

Command: IV Corps

Age: 64

Callsign: Blue Dragon

"Major Osakabe," called the 2nd lieutenant.

A tall woman with long black hair and small mol next to her mouth stepped over to him.

"Hai?" said Osakabe Itoko.

"Take a look," he said adjusting his computer screen for her to see.

"You heard him?"

"He's at Kunwi."

"So the IV Corps has been deployed to Korea," she said to herself. 'And Kenji-kun's division is attacking their, just great. My little cousin could be walking into a deathtrap.'

Osakabe shook her head. She had to just that Harima, the boy she had to raise for her aunt, would be any to take care of himself.

"Can you zero in on their position?"

"Negative ma'am. The transmission wasn't long enough for me to do so."

"Their too smart for that, but stay on it just in case. I'll pass the word up to the 6th's commander."

She picked up a phone.

"Code in," ordered a cold voice.

Quietly, Osakabe whispered her callsign and answered the challenge word to prove her identity.

"Mushi mushi?" answered a new male voice which was equally cold.

"I've got something for you that you need to heard…"

* * *

**1020 Hours; October 28****th****, 2010; People's Liberation Army Ground Forces 70****th**** Infantry Division forward command bunker, Kunwi; North Gyeongsang Province, (occupied) Republic of Korea**

The Japanese attack had stalled. The 99th Motor Rifle Division had taken them off guard and it was inflicting heavy loses on the Japanese 6th Infantry Division.

'Those poor bastards and bitches don't know what hit them,' thought Wung. 'They can't fight the mighty People's Army.'

Choppers reached the battlefield at last. They raced onto the field flying from the north. There were no fighter-bombers, the 31st Air Division just didn't have enough of Q-5s. Most were trying to repel a massive three prong attack on Taejon.

"Good," said Lt. General Tang. "Those new ZW-10s should turn the battle."

The ZW-10s ripped through the Japanese forward lines. Tang smiled, they had the Japanese on the run, but he was a little repulsed by the violence, he wasn't prepared for the slight of blood on such a large scale. Wung gave a small snort at the idiots in the Japanese Federal Army who refused to retreat, why couldn't they stop this madness of horrific bloodshed. Jiang, however, did not smile; he knew it couldn't be this easy.

Suddenly a barrage of red lights and smoke contrails went into the skies from Japanese Type 87 AA-vehicles that had scattered among the armor and APCs. The observers failed to notice them or mistaken them for APCs. The Type 87s were firing 35mm rounds and Type 91 SAMs at their choppers. 5 attack helicopters went down, only two pilots managed to eject only to be killed on the ground by infantry.

The choppers scattered, dropped IR flares, and withdrew. The PLAAF didn't have many ZW-10s to begin with and they couldn't afford to lose too many more.

"I thought the attack helicopters could turn the tide," said Tang in shock.

"They're like their allies," said Jiang, "they attack, and when it doesn't work they either shell us into oblivion or draw us into traps."

Jiang turned to face a communication officer and ordered, "Tell the 56th Armor Regiment to charge at the enemy and have the 127th Artillery Battalion to cover."

"Understood, sir."

A regiment of PLAGF Type 96 heavy tanks and Type 80 medium tanks charged forwards. The Japanese started to give ground as artillery started to rain down on them.

"Ordered the barrage to move 100m south."

In 4 minutes the barrage was redirected and the Japanese armor began a full retreat. They had them on the run.

"Colonel Senior Jiang, when I have the chance I will have you promoted to major general and personally see to it that you get the Military Merit Medal," said Lt. General Tang jovially.

"Xiexie, sir, but I don't think it's over yet."

"Colonel Senior Jiang!" yelled a com-officer. "The enemy infantry have breached our right flank!"

"What!?"

Jiang grabbed his binoculars and looked at the right flank. Smoke made things difficult to see, but he could see the enemy had indeed breached their flank. Jiang took a deep breath and said, "Pack up this command bunker. Destroy anything that cannot be taken with us. We abandoned this position in 20 minutes."

"But sir," said Wung, "surely-"

"There is only a platoon between us and a Jap battalion. We can't stay here. Captain, please take the general with you. He is too important to be killed or worse, captured. I will stay here and make sure nothing valuable gets left behind."

Wung stared in amazement at Jiang's calm in such a dire situation and his courage.

"I understand."

Wung ran outside with his rifle at his hip. He looked around and ran down the slope to the streets. He led Tang with the retreating soldiers. It was both frightening and embarrassing to see the proud A-class regulars retreat in such panic.

**BOOM!**

A mortar exploded in front of them killing a squad of Chinese soldiers. Wung then heard the sound of a motor behind him. A Japanese Type 89 IFV rolled around the corner and started to fire its 35mm auto-cannon and 7.62x51mm machine gun.

"Duck!" yelled Wung knocking his superior to the ground and throwing his body on top of him. Red tracer rounds flew over head. A Chinese soldier fired an anti-tank rocket and destroyed the IFV.

"Duibuqi, sir," said Wung helping up his superior.

"It's fine, let's get to the division HQ."

They ran. A soldier ran out from an alley. He was wearing a leopard style camouflage, not the PLAGF woodland style camouflage. Wung raise his rifle and clumsily fired an automatic burst. Many of his shots missed, but he hit the enemy soldier in the gut. Wung watched in fascinated horror as the Japanese soldier slowly keeled over and bled to death on the ground. Wung had never killed a man… or fired a weapon at a live human target.

Tang had never seen a person killed up close either… except for couple of excisions. The two of them just stared.

An explosion nearby brought them back to reality. Wung was sweating, he felt nauseous, and panicking, but he was running like hell. They found a Beijing BJ2020S jeep sitting next to a damaged and abandoned Type 59 57mm AA gun. Wung jumped in behind the wheel and gunned the engine as Tang jumped in the passenger seat next to him.

The drove through the city. Japanese 105mm and 155mm shells and 81mm mortars were raining down Kunwi. AH-64J Apaches were starting prowl the streets and tearing apart Chinese soldiers and armor as they tried to make counter-attacks. F-1 fighter-bombers roared across the skies and dropped cluster bombs. Higher up were F-2s and F-15Js circling like hawks looking for their prey.

Tang reached for a radio and gave a single to retreat. Kunwi was lost. The Japanese had won the day.

* * *

**1200 Hours; October 29****th****, 2010; People's Liberation Army Ground Forces forward HQ, currently 3km north of the front; North Gyeongsang Province, (occupied) Republic of Korea**

"It was a slaughter," said Wung to the command staff of the IV corps. "The Japanese **were** inexperienced and not prepared to fight a full scale war, but that has changed. They are powerful, clever, fierce, and determined. They are like all of NATO, they like high technology weapons to make up for their smaller numbers. I spoke with a woman in the Navy and a man in the Air Force. Based on their descriptions and from what I witness at Kunwi with the general it appears that the Federal Navy is the center of Japanese fighting strength. They use it as a shield from invasion and it's their primary means of defense and the main means of transportation of heavy equipment; it also serves to scare off anyone who wants to attack Japan's homeland. The Federal Air Force is mainly a support force used to cover/protect their soldiers and ships from air attacks. They also provide recon, fighter-bomber runs, bombing runs, and a main means of rapid transportation; they are also hunter-killers that search for anything we can use against them, especially artillery, command posts, communications and radar sites, supply depots, and areas that repair tanks. The Federal Army is mainly geared to be their main means of offensive operations. They copy attack styles from the Germans, British, and Americans. They we originally the weakest branch of service, but they are proving to be the fastest learning service branch."

"So you're saying our previous data was wrong?" asked Colonel Senior Zhui.

"I'm saying it's grossly outdated. I will be sending a report to General Xung and General Xiao with updated information. I hope this updated information will aid the People's Army and arm them against a similar fate to us."

"Very well, xiexie Captain Wung."

"Sirs," said a captain entering the room. "We've finished packing up the corps HQ."

"Understood, you're dismissed," Lt. General Tang standing up. "Gentlemen, I will see you all Ch'ungju. I wish you a safe trip."

With their flank gone, the Germans had swept through Kunwi and Andong and were attacking Yongju. Elements of the US 3rd Marine Division was charging up along the coast. The Turks and Canadians were closing the gap between the North Jeolla Province and North Gyeongsang Province. The Japanese were pursuing IV Corps as they withdrew to the Ch'ungbuk Province. The British, French, Dutch, Italians, and Belgians had sized Taejon at last. The Chinese lines had collapsed and now they were trying to hold the Chungcheong Province, Ch'ungbuk Province, and southern parts of the Kangwon Province. The North Koreans were digging in around Kyŏnggi Province and Seoul National Capital Area which had Icheon, South Korea's second largest port after Pusan and South Korea's second largest city. It also included Seoul, capital of the Republic of Korea and South Korea's largest city.

The IV Corps was being taken to Ch'ungju, Ch'ungbuk Province. The 99th Motor Rifle Division had taken some loses, but most of the corps of undamaged physically. Psychologically, it was a huge blow.

Wung, who was riding in Type 90 command APC, looked out the hatch to see there forward HQ one last time. In an hour or so the Japanese would overrun the area.

Wung began to write a letter to his father.

'Dear Father,

Yesterday I saw my first battle. It was not a pretty sight. Please tell the Minister of Defense we need to update the information on our enemies. The Japanese are emerging onto the world as a global power. We need as many planes, particularly fighter-bombers and fighter planes, to be sent to the front as soon as possible or this war will be costly.

Sincerely Your Son

Shao'

He sealed the envelope and put his family's seal on to ensure that no one but his father would open it. It was a nice thing about China that there wasn't a security service like the KGB that violated the privacy of the heads of state.

* * *

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I've not really given you the point of view of the enemy at the front and how they see battle. I think I've said this before, but one of the hardest lessons of war is that the enemy is people like you and me. Never forget that whether you join your nation's respective armed forces or you just write a story about it like me. If you watch the HBO series Band of Brothers you will get one of the most accurate counts of war I've ever seen. Part 10: Points, which is the final episode of Band of Brothers, is really the one that makes my point (no pun intended).

War does have one side good, one side evil. It's far more complicated then that. On both sides there are people who were good people and thought they were doing the right thing. The truth is always the most ambiguous thing in war and often the last thing to be understood.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. The People's Republic of China was over 1 billion people living in it. Since the world comprises of over 6 billion people, China has roughly a 1/6th of the total world population. If you combine Republic of India and the People's Republic of China they would make up 1/3rd of the total world population.


	51. Chapter 51: Battle of the Yellow Sea

Here's the next chapter

Here's the next chapter. I'm trying to wrap up this story so some things may be coming kinda' fast paced. Aside from that I don't have anything else to say.

I don't own any trademarked or copywrite item. Please review and/or tell a friend.

* * *

**Chapter 51: Battle of the Yellow Sea**

"We have met the enemy and they are ours..."

Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry in reference to the Battle of Lake Eire, War of 1812

The Oliver Hazard Perry Class frigate is named after him

**2130 Hours; October 29****th****, 2010; USS Tuatha de Danaan, Yellow Sea; 12km off shore, Republic of Korean waters**

Colonel John Shinhachi when he put in a request to the head of the United States Special Operations Command for personnel, he didn't expect to have the second most expensive and ambitious piece of US Military hardware after Project: Star Wars II, assigned to his command.

Although he never admitted this to anyone but Emma, Shinhachi hated submarines. He was secretly afraid of being trapped underwater. He was perfectly fine with being trapped underground. Also as a Delta operator, he was a paratrooper and perfectly okay with being blown up in the skies. Something about drowning in the dark waters of the sea scared him and few things scared Shinhachi like this. Something about being crushed to death as a submarine imploded in the dark abyss of the seas was terrifying. He admired the sailors who crewed these things, but then again they may envy him for his comfort with planes and choppers.

"Jack," said a sharp female voice.

"Yeah, Maya?"

"Just got this in," said Lt. Colonel Maya Solomon dropping a file on his table.

"Our SEAL team raided some of the islands west of Incheon. They found the drop site and picked up the packet from your contact. He reported that the PLA is supplying itself via the port in Incheon and has a list of ships he's seen in the past two weeks."

"Okay, I want a meeting with all my staff in 10, understood?"

In ten minutes the staff under the command of Compass Rose Two.

Shinhachi sat at the head of the table with Lt. Colonel Maiwald on his right and Lt. Colonel Solomon on his left. At the opposite end of the table were Captain Teletha Testarossa, Commander Andrei Kalinin, and Commander Richard Mardukas. As a captain in the United States Navy, Teletha Testarossa was of equal rank to John Shinhachi who was a colonel in the United States Army, but Shinhachi had seniority by age and experience.

Testarossa was a person the Navy had kept quiet and out of the way, which suited her shy personality perfectly. Few knew that at 19, she was the youngest captain in the USN and one of the greatest geniuses the world had ever known. She was given special, totally unheard of permission to enter the Annapolis Naval Academy at 16. When she was 16 she designed the SCVN-01 Tuatha de Danaan class nuclear-powered ballistic missile/light carrier submarine. When she was 18 and legally of age to be in the armed forces she was given command of the USS Tuatha de Danaan that was completed after two and a half years of intensive work. Where the Danaan was built was a mystery even to Shinhachi who was Army and wouldn't normally allowed to know the Navy's secrets… or how they built such a sophisticated submarine in only two and a half years of work. He could only suspect the Navy had a hidden facility and if he had to guess it would be in Alaska because the Soviets kept a careful eye on the Panama Canal and the regular submarine patrols on the cape of South America and the Artic Ocean.

Shinhachi was reviewing his command while he waited for the rest of his section to arrive.

He had a detachment of the Special Air Service under the command of Major Henry Nichols of the 21st SAS Regiment, the Close Target Reconnaissance unit. Nichols had 16 SAS operators under his command and 6 intelligence officers from MI6 and MI5.

Oberstleutnant (Lt. Colonel) Ernst Baum of the Kommando Spezialkräfte (KSK) 1st Platoon: Land Insertion, was commander of the German detachment. Due to Shinhachi's and Maiwald's numerous friends in the Federal Republic, he had a pretty large force of Bundeswehr soldiers under his command. Baum had members of MAD, BND, and personnel from all of KSK's 5 platoons. There was also two personnel from Grenzschutzgruppe 9 (GSG-9), although they were German federal police officers, they were counter-terrorism intel officers and it was useful to have people from the law enforcement.

Solomon's contacts in Sayeret got Shinhachi a team of Israeli commandos under the command of Captain Ehud Mofaz. It was a small team of 6 airborne specialist, 6 seaborne specialist, two communication specialists, one computer specialist, and intel officer. It was a small, but aggressive and highly experienced force. Israel wasn't part of NATO, but they were close to NATO and the Israelis were professionals and useful allies.

Major Sue Bynes of the United States Air Force Special Forces was also assigned to Shinhachi's command. She was in charge of squad of soldiers trained to recover downed pilots or seize airports. She was able to get them direct reports from the Air Force's Space Forces who controlled most of the US's military satellites. She also had friends who commanded the U2s and the stealth bombers.

Maiwald, as a sniper, was given command of observations. He was also a chief analyst when it came to reviewing designs of weapons or bases. Solomon, as a field agent, was given command of recon/rapid assault team. She was very good at helping Shinhachi hammering out the details to a strike and tracking targets over long distances.

Shinhachi had a small team of analysts, radio operators, and computer hackers under his direct command. He was basically reading all the intel reports and distributing them to all his officers. He was also sending on information to the regular military who needed updates on the enemy's activities. It was funny to think that the NATO commanders were depending on a man they've never met and have no clue if he is even in NATO.

The officers sat down at last.

"Okay people, first order of business, what do we know of the frontlines," said Shinhachi.

"Our forward lines are shaky command, but the Chinese don't show signs of mounting a counter-attack," said Bynes passing out photos taken by spy planes and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).

"What is the intel on the area around Icheon?"

"Limited mien herr," answered Hauptmann Nollau. "We know they have a large SAM complex and several radar sites they keep moving around. I believe someone in the American intelligence services is trying to make contact with resistance fighters, but have not yet successed."

"What would their naval strength be in the area?" asked Shinhachi addressing the question to Testarossa.

Captain Testarossa pondered the question for a moment, "… the likely hood would be submarines. I would also guess there would be a small surface task force. Also they would have land based anti-ship and planes on the islands to keep our ships away."

"And that would be too close to risk the Danaan," said Shinachi thinking out loud. The Danaan was quieter than any other sub in the USN, but its large size made it better for open waters, not near a series of islands. It was basically like any normal aircraft carrier, it needed escorts and was not suited for direct battles with the enemy.

"Teletype for ya' sir," said Sergeant Major Jacobsen, Shinhachi's communication officer.

Shinhachi read the message.

'Check Foxtrot-Item-Lima-Echo, break. At the moment Oklahoma died, break. Sea, break.

Mocking Bird'

"Excuse me for a moment," said Shinhachi leaving the room.

He entered his office where a small team of personnel were sitting around.

"Lawson, on your feet!" ordered Shinhachi.

"Huh?" said a man sitting up from a long sleep at his desk. Chief Warrant Officer Hawk Lawson has a man with long light brown hair and grey eyes. He had the appearance of Californian surfer, which he once was judging by the surfboard he had in a corner and the picture on his desk of him on a breach holding it. He even talked like one. It had taken some time to get use to Lawson replacing the word 'sir' with 'dude'.

"Ah, Colonel. Wazzup, dude?" said Lawson.

"Check a PLAN file number 08001281947," ordered Shinhachi.

"You're the boss," said Lawson cracking his knuckles. Lawson then began to hack into the People's Liberation Army Navy's database. Lawson may come across as a beach-bum, but he was one of the best hackers Shinhachi had ever seen. The DIA had taught him extremely well and he made up for his lack of proper speech or appearance for well honed skills.

"Well righty then, Colonel dude. Aw, it's just so, some a lame ass quartermaster invoice," said Lawson sounding disappointed. He scanned it and his eyes widened "Wha… awwwwwwwww! Dude! This is fucking big man."

"Mocking Bird wouldn't waste my time," said Shinhachi with a nod. "What is it?"

"It's an order for fuel bombs to be transferred to the PLAAF in Incheon. Damn, now that's heavy man."

"Print it."

30 minutes later Shinhachi had brought the staff the file and explained what it was.

"The PLA is trying to avoid using land routes because there is only one rail line and highway across the DMZ which is backed up by the People's Korean Army. The PLA mainly uses ships to traverse the Yellow Sea and heavy supplies to PLAGF and planes to bring in fresh troops," said Colonel Shinhachi.

"Jack, we've known this for a while," said Lt. Colonel Maiwald.

"True, but the PLA is going to be shipping a massive convoy with replacement choppers and fighter-bombers. They are also shipping enough fuel bombs to reduce a division to ashes."

There was a horrified silence.

"We can't use the Danaan for this purpose. We're not meant for much beyond firing missiles and launching planes."

"I think we should pass this on to the regular Navy. They will be better suited in intercepting a convoy," said Commander Markukas.

"Agreed, but the 7th Fleet has its hands tied. The Deutsche Marine is moving up the Eastern Coast. The HMS Invincible's group doesn't have the numbers to take on a convoy with this many escorts. That leaves the Japanese 2nd Fleet."

* * *

**0900 Hours; October 30****th****, 2010; JFS Mogami (CG-01), 130km southwest of Incheon; Yellow Sea, International Waters**

"All hands! General quarters, level one battlestations!"

Natsuyami and Yūki ran for the combat center on the bridge.

Two more Mogami Class aegis cruisers had been added to the 2nd Fleet. One of the new Ryūsu (Dragon's Nest) Class supercarriers had been added to the Fleet as well, but one of its four catapults wasn't functional yet and it wasn't fully crewed. It also only had one squadron of F-18EJ Super Hornets, a single flight of SH-60J Sea Hawks armed for ASW, and one flight of F-14DJ Super Tomcats. The JFS Ryūhō (CVN-07) was really not ready for war, but the Federal Navy was trying to increase the strength of their one fleet that was at war.

Natsuyami seated himself at the surface-to-surface missile sector of the combat center. The Mogami was equipped with the Aegis, the US Navy's greatest creation in his opinion. Only the new Japanese destroyers like the Kongō Class and Atago Class, which were basically Japanese production versions of the USN's Arleigh Burke Class destroyer, were equipped with Aegis. The older destroyers Natsuyami served on didn't have Aegis. He marveled at the integrated weapons/inter-fleet radar system which could use radar from both ships and planes and put it on a uniform targeting/tracking system. Aegis could track over 100 targets simultaneously within a 190km radius. It was certainly a lot better and more efficient system than what he used before or in any other navy.

Yūki had also experienced changes in technology. The Mogami used automated loading systems which she had direct control over. She was now in charge of anti-surface ship missiles. The weapons systems were now better more comprehensive and better compatible with other systems used by other navies.

A navy often required more personnel than any other service branch, but now only a crew of 280 were needed instead the 400 personnel that operate the Mogami's American counter-part the Ticonderoga Class. Most of the crew was mechanics.

The radars were powered up and put on standby so the PLAN wouldn't detect them. Of course sooner or later the Chinese would detect a carrier battle fleet moving to intercept them.

"Sonar?" asked Captain Uesugi.

"Nothing ma'am. Just our boats, no hostile," said a sonar operator. They had the tow array sonar trailing behind the cruiser. It was set on passive sonar which would be virtually impossible for another ship or sub to hear and was well suited for listening for noises from subs. Active sonar ran the risk of telling every ship and sub for over 100km their location, but it would tell them the exact location of every object in the waters around them.

"Keep on eye and it and don't which to active without permission."

"Aye captain."

Captain Uesugi looked out the window at 2 O'clock to a Shirane Class destroyer which had two of its three Sea Hawks fueled up on its rear flight deck ready to launch for ASW sorties. Helicopter Destroyers like the Shirane Class were now used as anti-submarine warfare (ASW) ships. At the 4 O'clock position to the Mogami was the JFS Sutsuru. On the carrier's other side was the cruiser JSF Nagara and the JSF Furutaka was staying close to the JSF Ryūhō.

Natsuyami's display was showing their fleet's position, but with active radar on standby he could figure where the enemy was.

"Captain!" called a communication officer. "One of the Sutsuru's Hawkeyes has sighted the enemy convoy."

"Position?" inquired Uesugi.

"Oscar, November," said the com officer only giving the general grip, but no numbers to make it more precise.

"Is there anything more exact?" asked Captain Uesugi.

"Negative captain. The Hawkeye turned back so it wouldn't be sighted."

"Fuck," said she muttered to herself. "Okay all hands, let's get ready. That grid is only 80km out."

The Earth's curvature wouldn't allow them to beyond a few kilometers; it just wasn't physically possible after a point. The plan was to get in close and engage the PLAN at a range where they couldn't escape. If they were detected first then the plan was to use planes and cruise missiles to annihilate the convoy at long range.

"Captain! I've got something!" shouted a sonar tech. That was something you didn't usually wanted to hear from a sonar operator, but having something sneak through sonar was worse.

"What is it?!" demanded Uesugi.

"Not sure yet, but it ain't natural… it's definitely something human made and it's not a sunken wreck… it's not one of our boats 'cause the coordinate ain't right… I can't verify, but it's bearing 340. We'll call it Sierra-1 for now."

There was a pause as sonar listened intently to his passive sonar arrays. No one spoke for fear of interrupting him and everyone watched him.

"Shit that's heading for the Sutsuru. Verify it ASAP! Com, tell the Sutsuru they may have Sierra-1 on them," yelled Captain Uesugi realizing that bearing put it on a course towards their flagship.

"Aye, captain," said a communication officer.

The Shirane Class destroyer launched one of its Sea Hawks. The Sea Hawk lowered itself over the area where the unidentified boat was believed to be swimming. The 2nd Fleet was only doing 12kt and a sub could easily travel silently at that speed, but the 2nd Fleet could also use their sonar at that speed too. The SH-60J lowered a long weighted cable with a sonar array on its end into the sea. A flight technician activated the passive sonar which was not as effective at locating subs as active sonar, but would be harder for the sub to hear and it would let them hear the subs noises better including the noise of the engines, torpedo tubes, missile tubes, and the sound of its blades.

"I think I've got him. We're right on top of him. Hai, noisy little bastard he is. I hear steam, it must be nuclear powered (1). It has to be a Han Class, that's their only nuke boat class unless they bought some of the Russian boats," said the sonar tech on the Sea Hawk.

"Understood, okay I want-" started Vice Admiral Takeisawa aboard the Sutsuru.

"Hang on Admiral he's doing something… he's blowing his tanks… he moving towards the surface," interrupted the sonar tech.

"What's he doing?" asked Vice Admiral Takeisawa.

"I don't know yet… wait… he just raised his antenna… shit he's gonna' report us!"

"Sink him now!" shouted Vice Admiral Takeisawa.

"He's about 76m (250ft) down," said the sonar tech on the chopper. "That's the minimum to send a single."

"Rodger that," said a weapons operator on the Sea Hawk. "Dropping torp."

"Too late he's sending! Probably a burst signal. The enemy probably knows we're here now."

There was a signal going out. The Japanese didn't know what it said, but they knew meant. A Mk. 50 torpedo was released from the chopper. It crashed into the sea. The Han Class sub had to expose himself for too long and held his position for too long to escape to torpedo. The next thing they saw was the water leap into the air. They heard the Han try to blow his tanks the usual final move made by all subs when they were critically hit. It was a horrendous said screeching metal as the hull collapsed. There was a terrible noise that the sonar techs didn't recognize at first until they realized that it was the nuclear reactor being shut down. With luck it wouldn't be damaged and no radiation would leak.

"We got him, I can see a body on the surface," said an observer on the Sea Hawk. The Han had risen close enough to the surface that someone had tried to escape. When the SH-60J circled around the body they could see he was dead.

"Picket line Alpha, switch radar from standby to fully active," ordered Vice Admiral Takeisawa. He didn't want to have his whole fleet to go active or risk the PLAN knowing exactly every ship out and about.

"This is Chikuma," said one of the Japanese frigates in the lead picket line. "I've got 12 bombers inbound. They look like Badgers (2)."

Natsuyami and Yūki looked at each other.

"Must be an H-6," she said referring to the Chinese production model of the Tu-16 Badger, an old twin jet engine medium bomber originally inducted into the PLAAF as a nuclear bomber. The PLAAF had converted the H-6s into recon planes, spy planes, electronic warfare planes, AWACSs, conventional bombers, tankers/re-fuelers, and cruise missiles platforms. The H-6s now served both the PLAN and PLAAF, and they were used in a large range of purposes for both services.

"Probably the H-6D, that's what their navy uses. It can only carry one anti-ship missile though," said Natsuyami thoughtfully. "I doubt it's only 12 of them because 12 missiles would be too easy for any fleet to deal with."

The Sutsuru scrambled fighters. Four F-14DJs rose to meet the H-6Ds.

"Carp, Flight 2, this is Lieutenant Hinamori," said Lieutenant JG Hinamori aboard the Sutsuru. "The Badgers are at Papa 141, Oscar 100.1. Course speed is 550kt (632.92mph). Altitude is 10,000m (32808.39ft). Course heading is 168. Second group was detected by AWACS Sea Glass 1-2 at Oscar 32, November 100. Speed is 520kt and they are traveling at 1,100m. Heading is 189. There appears to be 24 planes, but maybe more.

Be advised neither group has any sign of fighter escort nor that there is no sign they know we've detected them, over."

"Carp 2-1 copies that Momo," said Lieutenant Tsuyoshi. "Carp Flight 2 is moving to engage, out. Okay listen up 2nd Flight. Carp 2-3, take 2-4 and engage the group coming from the convoy. 2-2 follow me and will take the over group. Flights 1 and 3 will be up in a few minutes."

"2-3, rodger that, sir. E element is moving to engage the second group," said Sagano accelerating towards the Badgers coming from the north over the convoy. The People's Liberation Army Naval Air Force (PLANAF) appeared to be pulling out all the stops. The PLA really wanted this convoy to go through if they are committing their bombers.

"Echo element Carp Squadron, this is Hinamori again," said Lieutenant JG Hinamori on the Sutsuru. "Alpha element of White Tuna Squadron is joining you."

"Understood, keep us updated, out."

Two F-14DJs from 5th Naval Fighter 'White Tuna' Squadron were joining Sagano and Asakawa's planes. Lt. Commander Iwai Yukimasa, callsign White Tuna 1-1, and his wingman Ensign Sasamoto Taizo were flying 20m below Sagano. As a lieutenant commander, the Navy equivalent of a lieutenant colonel in the Army, Iwai held seniority over Sagano.

"White Tuna leader, you know what to do?" asked Sagano.

"Hai, I heard the lieutenant on the Sutsuru. We don't have much time so we're going to have to nail them at long range with missiles. Clear?" asked Lt. Commander Iwai.

"Hai, arming Phoenixes."

Petty Officer 1st Class Ikehi Yosho sitting in the second-seat of Sagano's Super Tomcat was scanning the horizon for the Badgers.

"I got them!" he yelled to Sagano. RIOs (radio intercept officer) had a TV monitor in front of them that was hooked up to a search video camera which was meant to track ground targets, but the United States Naval Air Force (USNAF) had started to use them in the 1980s during air patrols to visually search for Soviet ships or bomber size planes. It was a nice alternative to search radars which could be detected much further away than the radar could detect things. "They're at 11 O'clock."

Each pilot then switched their targeting radar from standby to active. The AIM-54 Phoenix had a range of 184km (115mi), or more depending on conditions and the range of the users targeting radars. The moment they lock-on tone buzzed in their cockpits they repeatedly pressed the red button on their sticks and each released their four Phoenixes.

The Badgers started to break up their formation and drop IR flares. Unfortunately, the old Badgers weren't the most agile plane and wasn't well suited to survive contact with any fighter plane. The Badgers were blown out of the sky. Sagano and Asakawa swept through the remaining planes with their guns and dived to avoid the tailgunners.

Captain Uesugi listened to the pilots transmissions. So far so good.

"This is JFS Kirisame!" yelled a com-officer on a destroyer on the 2nd Fleet's rear picket line. They were one of the few ships their search radars on active and like the lead picket line, they were keeping an eye out for the enemy. "There's a third group inbound! They're Flounders! Looks like 60 of them."

Uesugi felt her heart stop. The Xian JH-7, NATO reporting name the Flounder, was a PLANAF and PLAAF equivalent of the Japanese F-1 or the Germans/British Panavia Tornado. It was a fast supersonic plane and highly maneuverable. The Chinese were using the Badgers as bate and the Flounders were going to sneak up on the battle fleet (3).

Captain Uesugi had to make a hard decision. She could turn on her active radar and risk telling the Flounders that a Japanese cruiser was out there and also risk bringing them near the flagship. Or she could try to link with the picket lines radars to target the Flounders, but limited their combat capabilities.

"Combat-SAM, link with the Kirisame and armed our Standards."

"Aye captain," said Petty Officer 2nd Class Kusho who was one of the operators of the Kogami's two Mk. 26 missile launchers. "Natsuyami, can you link me?"

"On it… got it."

"Can you hit them?" asked Yūki.

"The American's RIM-161 anti-ballistic missiles they used to shoot down a satellite back in 2008 and they are based off the RIM-66's that we have so I think it will work," said Kusho confidently not taking his eyes off his screen. "Captain! I've got a fire solution!"

"Fire when ready then," said Uesugi.

The Flounders were traveling low to avoid detection at the cost of fuel. This allowed them get very close to the fleet and due to the curvature of the Earth they couldn't be seen visually, but the same worked in reverse that they couldn't see the fleet. Kusho had to wait a couple of seconds to make sure he and Natsuyami had accounted for the curvature.

"SAM Launchers three and four, firing," announced Kusho. Natsuyami watched its progress. It was his job to make confirm whether they hit anything.

"ETA 20 seconds… 10 seconds… 5-4-3-2-1… one contact has disappeared from the Kirisame's radar… second SAM has missed," said Natsuyami.

Two more SAMs were being loaded onto the aft launcher and the aft main gun was being readied for anti-air operations.

"Captain, an E-2 callsign Sea Glass 1-2 has the PLAN fleet on radar," said a com-officer.

"Petty Officer Yūki, arm all Harpoons and fire on my order," ordered Captain Uesugi.

"Aye captain," said Yūki, who was the anti-ship missile specialist, started releasing the safeties on the Mogami's eight Harpoon ship-to-ship cruise missile launchers on the aft of the ship. There were five missile techs. Two were surface-to-air operating the two Mk. 26 SAM launchers and the other three were surface-to-surface operating the 8 Harpoon launchers and 122 vertical launch tubes for anti-ballistic missiles or Tomahawk cruise missiles. There were additional crews to operate the two triple barreled torpedo tubes and the two Phalanx Close-In Weapons System 20mm galting cannon. There were also people operating the two 25mm Bushmasters and the two 127mm Mk. 45 guns, but not in the bridge, they were in the guns.

"Target the enemy transport ships."

"Aye ma'am."

Natsuyami gave Yūki the firing solution which she patched in her computer. Eight large container ships were being tracked by the Hawkeye. They were probably civilian owned and crewed, but China and Japan were at a full scale war and these ships were being used for military purposes. It's not like the PLAN subs hadn't attacked civilian cargo ships carrying military supplies to NATO. That was part of war.

"Ready captain."

Uesugi waited for the other five cruisers to radio in that they were ready to fire. All five cruisers fired 8 Harpoon anti-ship cruise missiles each at the enemy convoy. Using the orbiting Hawkeye, Natsyumi was keeping Yūki updated with the enemy ships who had increased their speed. The enemy was keeping their search radars off, or on standby, so they too would be harder to detect. That didn't really matter because of the Hawkeye, but it was putting itself in great danger with active radar on near the enemy.

"Vampire, vampire!" screamed a radar tech shouting the NATO warning of incoming anti-ship missiles. "Those Flounders just launched four missiles each."

'So their JH-7As, and not the original JH-7. So they fire 4 instead of 2 which is 160 Yingji-82K anti-ship missiles in all, great,' thought Captain Uesugi sarcastically. "Fire burst type SAMs. Main gun two fire anti-air burst type shells. CIWS two and Bushmasters fire when in range! You all are clear to shoot!"

"Aye captain!" responded several voices. Uesugi watched as thin red lines on the main monitor steadily approached the 2nd Fleet. SAMs launched from every ship available. These SAMs equipped with proximity fuses exploded in front of the incoming missiles creating a wall of shrapnel. 76.2mm (3in) and 127mm (5in) guns fired anti-aircraft shells also with proximity fuses which added to the wall of steel.

Dozens of contacts were lost, but at least 70 missiles got through. The Bushmasters began to rake the skies with 25mm auto-cannon fire and the Phalanxes added their 20mm rounds as the missiles got in close.

"Fire chaffs!" ordered Vice Admiral Takeisawa. Flare like rockets fired into the air and exploded above the ships creating an aluminum cloud. It was a navy anti-missile countermeasure used to distract anti-ship missiles just like the IR flares the air force used to draw away SAMs or air-to-air missiles from planes and helicopters.

More SAMs launched, but the chaffs made them virtually useless. Bushmasters and CWISs continued to sweep the sky and even fighter planes tried to intercept the missiles, but 48 missiles climbed up and arced down in their terminal dives.

Chaos broke out as the steel rained down on the Japanese battle fleet. A couple missiles were destroyed, but it was near impossible to shoot down cruise missiles in a terminal dive. Several missiles were confused by the chaffs and missed, but four frigates, 5 destroyers, and a minesweeper were hit. Two destroyers were no longer on radar and another frigate was sinking in front of the Mogami. As the ships started to call in they realized that one of two new cruisers wasn't calling in. Her bridge had taken a direct hit. Worst was the Sutsuru, although one hit was no serious damage and the deck wasn't harmed, the sight of thick black smoke coming from the bridge was psychologically damning to the 2nd Fleet. Plus the bridge wasn't responding to anyone's calls.

"Come in Sutsuru," said Captain Uesugi in a pleading tone. The crew of the Mogami was praying someone would respond.

"Sutsuru? This is Captain Uesugi Midori of the JFS Mogami, are you there?"

There was a crackle from someone keying a radio and then, "… -cough- … this is Lieutenant JG Hinamori Momo, aide to Captain Hokai of the Sutsuru… -cough-…"

"Lieutenant are you okay?"

"I'm bleeding… I can't really stand... -cough- … glass ripped up my leg. I'm also having trouble breathing with the smoke… ugh… dammit!"

They could hear Hinamori fall the floor with a clatter. She screamed in pain. Nobody spoke as the prayed for her.

"Status?"

"We destroyed the missiles, but it was so close that the bridge got caught in the blast. And… Vice Admiral Takeisawa is dead," she said numb from shock and pain.

"Are you sure?" asked Uesugi hoping she wasn't.

"Hai… he was no head… a lot of the bridge crew are dead. I may be alone right now," said Hinamori seeing the once active bridge now turned slaughter house. Her right leg was a bloody mass and wondered if they would have to cut it off. Her clothes were torn apart. Half her ankle length skirt was now a knee length skirt and her stomach was now exposed with her tunic and button up shirt ripped to rags. There were cuts on her belly too, but they were minor. She felt tears falling down her cheek, but she didn't know whether it was from relief, pain, shock, horror, confusion, or anger at the enemy, it all seemed to be happening simultaneously. She pulled herself into a chair and began to send out orders to the pilots. She had recalled one of the Hawkeyes and had second one launch to take its place. She next pulled out an emergency override key she was given as aide to the captain of the Sutsuru. She used and entered her password. She activated the sprinklers to put out the fires burning on the lower decks of the tower/bridge. Next she opened the vents so the smoke could be aired out.

Once that was done, Hinamori sent a teletype message.

"Priority: Alpha 1. This is Lieutenant JG Hinamori Momo, ID: JFN1993018. I am aide to Captain Hokai Tenchi. Situation: Yankee 12. Status: Bravo 1 and Bravo 4. Request: option Foxtrot 8," said Hinamori trying to keep herself together as she sent a secure teletype message to Outer West Naval Squadron HQ in Tsushima.

There was a series of clicks as a return message. An Alpha 1 was the highest priority message and Yankee 12 meant a carrier was hit. Bravo 1 meant a battle fleet commander was dead and Bravo 4 meant a capitolship commander was missing. Foxtrot 8 was a request for assistance from the Federal Air Force.

"Lieutenant Hinamori?" said a voice nearby. She looked up to see Rear (Senior) Admiral Byuten, second in command of the 2nd Fleet. His salt-and-pepper mix hair which was normally slicked to one side was a mess. His noise was broken and he was missing a tooth. If Hinamori had to guess he was blown face first into a wall by the explosion, but he lived. "Damn… don't worry. Help is on the way."

"Oh my god," said Lieutenant JG Sagano as she returned to her mothership. The deck didn't appear to be damaged and someone was using a set of luminescent paddles to give hand singles their flight to land. The planes landed. Firecrews had hoses out, but it seemed the fire was mostly out. Now they were moving in close with fire extinguishers to finish off the remaining embers.

The 2nd Fleet was now in chaos with no commands coming from flagship. Some were trolling for submarines which were starting to harass the fleet.

"Fuck the passive sonar! Turn on the active and do one sweep!" ordered a destroyer captain. The active sonar swept the area with a loud ping that human ears could hear. IT revealed four Kilo Class (4). Nuclear powered subs with their steam turbines were easier to hear with passive sonar then active, but the Kilo Class was a battery powered sub and they were very hard to detect. SH-60Js dived on the contacts and dropped torpedoes into the water. The first Kilo was destroyed, the second was damaged slightly and ran for it, the third turned and ran after evading the torpedo, and the fourth was damaged, but escaped to the surface.

A Kongō Class aegis missile destroyer and Haruna Class helicopter/ASW destroyer surrounded the surfaced Kilo. A Sea Hawk circled threateningly over the Kilo, the Kongō Class aimed its one 127mm guns, and the Haruna Class aimed its two 127mm guns at the all at the Kilo, both ships also brought their torpedo tubes to aim at the Kilo. They soon saw hatches pop open and people climbing out. Next they saw bright orange life rafts being inflated on its deck.

"What are they doing?" asked someone over the radio.

"If they're following People's Liberation Army Navy submarine doctrine then that will be the enlisted personnel, non-commissioned officers, and their medical staff. The officers will then submerge the boat and scuttle her underwater while the medical officers will watch over the enlisted personnel and NCOs as they surrender to us," responded an ASW specialist on one of the Sea Hawks.

More choppers launched into the air and began searching for survivors from the lost ships. Few were found.

"What a mess," groaned Captain Uesugi walking to the front of the bridge. She placed her hand on the glass and stared at the smoke filling the air and the choppers buzzing around. High above were fighter planes keeping an eye out for more Flounders.

"Captain," said Natsuyami.

"Hai, Petty Officer?"

"We've destroyed 24 of the 70 transports and sank 3 escorts."

"Very good," she said indifferently.

The Kilo submerged. No one stopped it. After a few minutes sonar detected an explosion and heard the sound of a hull imploding. Roughly 40 submariners were pulled out of the Yellow Sea and put on the Sutsuru who had the most room for prisoners.

"Attention all ships of the mighty 2nd Fleet of the Federation of the Rising Sun!" called a powerful voice over the radio. Everyone looked up at the speakers mounted on the bulkheads hopefully. "This is Rear Admiral Byuten, as second in command of the 2nd Fleet I hereby take command! Medical ship JFS Niuchi, send a chopper to us, we have critical wounded who are medical staff aren't equipped to deal with. Main group take up formation Charlie 1. Picket lines Alpha and Bravo advance onto the enemy. We are not going to lose down!"

A cheer went up over the radio from all the ships.

The main group took up defensive positions around the carriers. A SH-60J launched from one of the auxiliary ships to collect the critically wounded. Rear Admiral Byuten went down to the medical bay.

"How is she?" he asked a medical officer.

"Her leg is in really shitty condition, but we can save it," answered the doctor.

Byuten shook his head. "Always the small shy ones who are the strongest. She looks like my 14 year old daughter and acts like her too…"

He shook his head violently. He didn't want to see his daughter cut up like that in his mind. He headed for the door. "She put things in motion that saved a lot of lives… I have to go and take command, but once we get back to port, I swear to Susanoo-sama (5) that she'll get the Order of the Rising Sun if it's the last thing I do."

Japanese submarines were quietly tracking the progress of the Chinese ships. In another 60 minutes they would be in range of land-based anti-ship missiles launchers on the islands west of Incheon.

"Launcher our Super Hornets, send some of our Super Tomcats as escorts and keep two flights protecting the fleet," ordered Byuten. "All cruisers fire your Tomahawks."

Tomahawks were meant to be used against fixed land targets like bunkers and airbases, but not against ships. Truthfully any surface-to-surface or air-to-surface could be used against a warship, but he Harpoons were specially designed kill ships and they were programmed to go for weak spots.

Yūki and the other two missile techs were working furiously to make adjustments to the tomahawks by uploading data from the Harpoons to the Tomahawks. Natuyami and the other aegis techs were making sure they had a fix on the PLAN ships.

"Captain, Chinese destroyers and frigates are closing from 9 O'clock. Looks like a squadron," said a radar tech. The Chinese ships had appeared after making a silent run and masking their active radars. Now that they were in range the PLAN had full energized their radars and positioned themselves for battle.

"This is the Mogami, 12 ships approaching from 087. Speed 9kt. We are engaging."

"Rodger that Mogami, Ryūhō is launching a flight of Hornets to engage. Good luck, out"

The Mogami and a frigate Abukuma Class missile frigate assigned as the Mogami's escort turned to engage the new Chinese group. At least 8 Japanese ships were joining them.

"Ma'am I heard pinging," said sonar tech. "They're pounding the water with active sonar, probably to scare off our boats."

"Petty Officer 2nd Class Yūki, arm your Harpoons."

"Aye ma'am."

"Petty Officer 2nd Class Natsuyami, mark those ships. Get find and sink their flagship first!"

"Aye captain."

Two 130mm shells exploded in the water next to the Mogami making her list to one side briefly. Yūki was sent flying out of her seat and into Natsuyami. Natsuyami landed on his back with Yūki on top. They slowly regained their senses and then realized the position they were in. Their glasses we askew and their hair was slightly messy because neither one of them had time to shower this morning. Their faces turned red. Yūki had one of her legs between Natsuyami's inner-thighs. She could feel a slight bulge growing and she was very grateful Natsuyami couldn't see the physical signs that she too was arousal. Yūki quickly stood up and dusted off her skirt. Natsuyami exhaled in relief and sat up. It was a miracle that nobody noticed the moment of sexual tension, but the fact they were under fire was probably the reason.

"I've got a fire solution," said Natsuyami in a tone that said he was still confused over what was happening to him and his close friend.

"Understood, waiting on the captain's orders," said Yūki in the same tone.

"Tsumugi?" said Natsuyami addressing Yūki by her given name.

"Hai, Keisuke?" said Yūki delicately, she was terrified was what was going to come out of his mouth. She knew what she felt for him and she knew it would never come to fruition.

"We need to talk when we get back to port," he said making a decision at last.

"I agree," said Yūki making a similar, if not the same, decision.

"Fire sequence will be 1 through 4, wait 30 seconds, and fire 5 through 8," said Captain Uesugi.

"Aye captain."

"Fire on my mark. 5-4-3-2-1 mark!"

"… missile one is away… two is away… three is away… four is away," said Yūki announcing every Harpoon being launch. The Mogami rocked as a badly aimed missile from the Chinese exploded in the water 95m (311.7ft) away. A Japanese destroyer to a hit and broke off the engagement. Another destroyer was damaged badly and seemed to be immobilized.

"Missile one has hit an enemy frigate frigate number 1… missile two has hit frigate number 1… she's sinking," said Natsuyami watching his monitors, each ship was automatically given a name by the computer systems. "Missile three has been destroyed by enemy destroyer number 3. Missile four has hit frigate number 1… explosion detected."

A Jianghu I Class frigate exploded when missile number four slammed through the deck and into a munitions magazine.

"New ship detected," said Natsuyami. "Confirmed to be a Russian Slava Class missile cruiser."

"I've got a visual ma'am," called someone on deck over the radio. "I see a red flag with three blue stripes and two white strips on its lower half… one yellow star and Kanji characters 'eight' and 'one' (6). She's PLAN."

"For crying out loud, they have two of those things? I thought we sank their only fucking one," cursed Uesugi. "That will probably be the squadron's leader. Yūki, target that ship."

The Mogami and the frigate escorting her fired a total of 16 harpoon cruise missiles. The 127mm main gun on the bow of the ship started to fire anti-ship rounds from a 20 round clip for the Mk. 45's automatic loader. They were trying to stave off some of the frigates which were getting very close to the Japanese and during the skirmish into an ugly melee.

More ships fired Harpoons at the cruiser, but the Chinese destroyers were screening the Slava Class too well. The Slava then fired all 16 of her Chelomey SS-N-12 Bazalt cruise missiles, known by its NATO reporting name the Sandbox, from angled missile tubes on the port and starport sides of the cruiser.

"She's going for the Sutsuru! Anti-air!" shouted Uesugi.

The Mogami fired off her RIM-66 Standard medium range SAMs. Other Japanese ships equipped were able the fire larger amounts of SAMs. As the missiles passed over head the CIWSs raked the skies. The Slavas were not designed to reload their SS-N-12s while at sea or carry additional missiles. Mogami's vertical launch tubes weren't designed to reload at sea either, but since they had 122 missile tubes that didn't matter much.

"This is Urchin 3-1. Request you cease anti-air operations so we can make our attack runs, over," said the leader of a flight of F-18EJ Super Hornets from the Sutsuru.

"Understood, good luck," said Uesugi while signaling her anti-air teams to cease fire.

The Super Hornets dropped Harpoons of their own. The Super Hornets scattered as flak and tracers filled the air. That was a mistake however, because the missiles Yūki and her counter-part on the Abukuma Class frigate's Harpoons slipped right under their screen and smashed into the cruiser. Some of the missiles were shot down and others were confused by the Chinese own chaffs, but 7 found their mark. The Slava Class disappeared in series of orange and yellow flashes followed by a flume of black smoke.

"They're turning back!" shouted someone on another ship. A cheer went up around the battle fleet.

"Let them go and lick their wounds," ordered Rear Admiral Byuten. "All ships finish that convoy!"

"This is Sea Glass 2-2," said an E-2 Hawkeye. "I have enemy on active search radar."

Natsuyami passed on the coordinates. The two men in charge of the Tomahawks already had the missiles ready with Yūki's aid.

"Ready captain!"

"Fire!"

The cruiser shuttered violently as the cruise missiles launched one-by-one in rapid succession. Natsuyami kept the progress of the convoy updated. Everyone was watching their missiles progress as they rapidly advance on the convoy who were about to enter land based coverage zones.

"Hit! We have confirmed hits!" shouted Natsuyami. The missiles dropped off radar after their found their intended targets and ships started to disappear with them. "Eight transport ships slipped through ma'am."

Captain Uesugi sighed. They couldn't do anything about that. They could only hope those eight ships weren't too consequential to NATO's land forces.

An hour later Rear Admiral Byuten sighed too as the 2nd Fleet turned back for Strait of Korea. He wanted to kick the bulkhead in frustration, but he was pretty sure his ankle was already sprained at the least and he didn't want to make it worse. There was a series of clicks from the teletype machine as it received a message. He suspected it was from Outer West Squadron HQ in Tsushima or Joint NATO Forward Fleet HQ in Pusan because he had reported in to Tsushima half an hour ago when the surviving convoy slipped out of their combat zones. He was surprised to see it was from a classified source with only a callsign and no address.

'From: Piney Creek

To: Whom it may concern in Japanese 2nd Fleet

One of my contacts on Tŏkchŏk Island saw the surviving convoy pass by, break. According to the ship pen numbers with our intelligence they were carrying conventional munitions, choppers, artillery, planes, and armor, break. Enemy fuel bombs never left port in China, break. They appear to be waiting for cover of darkness, break. They will be dealt with, do not worry about them, break. We are determining the amount of damage done to the PLA, break. A report should be finished by your arrival and you will be briefed, break. Joint NATO Fleet Commander wishes me to pass on his congratulations, break. Excellent work, break.

End Transmission'

Byuten had no idea who this was, but it was comforting to know the fuel bombs didn't get through.

Bridge was freezing because all its windows were gone from the explosion. Only a small skeleton crew was working the bridge. Most of the planes were transferred to the Ryūhō since they had all their systems still working and some air traffic controllers were dead and most injured.

There was a roar as a pair of F-15J Eagle swooped low over the fleet. Land-based fighter planes from the 3rd Air Group were now creating an air umbrella that would protect the fleet until they reached Tsushima where they could use the Out West Squadron's shipyards instead of a Korean port. Byuten didn't have any particular problem with the Koreans, but he liked the idea of his ships being taken care of by his follow comrades in his nation's navy.

* * *

**22****00 Hours; October 30****th****, 2010; Office of Colonel General Guan Chen, Ministry of National Defense Compound; Beijing, Beijing Special Administrative Region; People's Republic of China**

Colonel General Chen (7) was sitting at his desk reviewing the report of the fiasco in the Yellow Sea. 'What a disaster.'

He couldn't believe that Admiral Zhuo had risked his surface ships just to try and sink the Japanese carrier. Worse, they had identified a second carrier flying the Japanese Federal Navy flag and two new cruisers.

"At least something got through," he said to himself. The eight ships had brought in a lot of badly needed replacement equipment for the ones lost to the IV and XI Corpses. Troops would be airlifted in under heavy air cover, but he was worried about the fact that an entire battle fleet had gotten so far into their supposedly secure waters. What a joke that was. Who was to say fighter planes couldn't come and attack their airlifts.

He felt sorry for his friend Colonel General Xaio who was in command of the action in Korea and believed in this war so passionately. Chen had thought this war was pointless from the beginning and now finally other general were agreeing. Even General Xung, Chief of Staff of the PLA, had admitting the Central Committee (8) was considering signing a ceasefire with NATO. General-Secretary Lao Zhang was still pressing for the war to continue, but the other ministers of Politburo were now putting the motions in action to have him 'removed'.

The People's Navy was currently ceasing its operations as it started to work on building replacement ships for the ones lost. The only bright side was that the Japanese seemed to be withdrawing her main strike force to shipyards in Japanese home-waters.

"General Chen!" said his aide bursting into the run.

"What?!"

"The transport carrying the thermobaric bombs was destroyed in its port!"

* * *

**22****17 Hours; October 30****th****, 2010; City Port, Lushun (or Port Arthur); Liaoning Province, People's Republic of China**

"Two will be very proud," said 2nd Lt. Mark Hooke of the SAS. They were sitting in a raft waiting for a Virginia Class submarine to extract them. They were miles from the port, but they could still see the fires burning.

Hooke was leading a team of SAS operators trained for maritime operations. He was tall, had light brown hair, blue eyes, and like most Englishmen he had bad teeth.

"I have just sent the mission success signal to the Danaan," said Oberstabsfeldwebel Mieke al-Otari, a German born girl of Iraqi descent. She was former member of counter-espionage of the KSK who had only worked desk before and this was her first field operation. Her parents were Kurds who in 1990 left Iraq and moved to Germany with many other Muslims trying escape persecution and violence in their homelands. She wore a bright red head scarf like most Muslim women, but after some negotiating with Colonel Shinhachi she agreed to wear a camouflage cloth as a scarf while in the field for obvious reasons. "Two has said he is please."

"That Yank better be. That was the most dangerous mission I've ever done," said Hooke.

"We weren't caught," said a SAS operator.

"True, but it was risky and-"

"There's are ride," said al-Otari. The USS Texas breached the surface of the water. They quickly boarded her and the Texas turned back and began a slow silent run to meet up with the Tuatha de Danaan.

"Very good," said Colonel Shinhachi review the recordings of the missions via helmet mounted cameras when the strike team finished their report. "You're dismissed. Get some rest, you did good today."

"John," said Captain Testarossa. Since they were of equal rank they were on a first name basis.

"Yeah, Tess?" Shinhachi called Teletha Testarossa, Tess instead of Tessa like most of her friends called her.

"I've been looking at these satellite photos from the Air Force and I was wondering how many passage ways are there across the DMZ?"

"Only one single track rail line and a two lane highway in both directions. There was plans to build a second rail line and highway, but that isn't completed… I think the highway would be useable though," said Shinhachi.

"They would mean that somewhere there are supply trains backed up on both sides of the border. Those would present very attractive targets for our Nighthawks or the Spirits," she said.

"I agree with Tessa," said Lt. Colonel Solomon. "We also should try and put the finished highway under surveillance. I would also think the uncompleted one is useable."

"We could then put the PKA on a stranglehold and if we could cut the PLA's supply lines we'd have them out of the war," said Lt. Colonel Maiwald.

"They want a way out," added Oberstleutnant Baum. "Or that is what one of your NSA officers says."

"We need to force the PLA out of the war," said Major Nichols. "That's the first step to ending this war."

"Bynes?" said Shinhachi at last after looking down at a map on his desk.

"Sir?" she said looking up.

"How far has the Air Force penetrated the Gulf of Chihli?"

"Our spy planes have gotten pretty far in, but the PLAAF are just ignoring us. They can shoot down satellites so they could easily shoot a U2 out of the sky."

"I'm thinking we attack Chinese ports in the Gulf of Chihli. We don't have to do damage, but if we show the People's Republic that we are prepared and able to attack their homeland then they will pull out," said Shinhachi twirling a pencil in his right hand. "It has to be well done though. If we're not careful we could get a nuclear response. We can't hit civilian targets…"

"What's the plan Jack," asked Maiwald.

"If I know the People's Republic of China, then my guess and a report from the State Department's intel service suggests the Chinese Politburo wants out, but the General-Secretary wants to continue the war," explained Colonel Shinhachi.

There was silence and then Major Nichols said, "They're gonna' bump off the poor blighter, ain't they?"

"That's my guess," said Shinhachi. "If we just give them a little encouragement they will pull out."

"Okay, onto other things," said Solomon. "NATO ground forces want to break out and push for Seoul and Incheon."

Shinhachi nodded. That would show the PLA the war was truly hopeless if they took Seoul or Incheon.

"There is a huge A-triple threat in both cities," said Major Bynes. "It's mostly directed at our fighter planes and tactile bombers, but not things like Stratofortresses. They know we'd never use them on the two most populated cities in the RoK."

"First things first," said Lt. Commander Kalinin. "We need to break through."

Shinhachi sighed, "Folks we're not gonna' figure this out tonight. Will reconvene at 0900 hours."

* * *

Well, I didn't intend to make a naval battle the focus of this chapter, but I liked it and went with it. I haven't decided what the next chapter will be, but I'll figure it out eventually. Hey, I've been making more than half this story as I go along.

So far I think we'll have a scene with Petty Officer 2nd Class Natsuyami Keisuke and Petty Officer 2nd Class Yūki Tsumugi confronting their feelings for each other. I've also got to have some reference to Lieutenant Junior Grade Hinamori Momo (one of my favorite Bleach characters). Also I plan on doing one or two more chapters with 2nd Lieutenant Nara Kentaro. I'll also do one or two more chapters with Colonel John Shinhachi and his section of spec ops warriors.

I gotta' say reading Red Storm Rising has given me a lot more to say about naval warfare and I'm starting to understand it better.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. For those of you who don't know nuclear power is basically a super powerful steam engine. Fuel grade uranium, a much lower percentage of purity than weapons grade, is put in a reactor and generates heat. A series of pipes filled with water run through the reactor and heat up turning the water to steam. The steam is used to turn a turbine to generate electricity. Next the heated water is run up to a cooling tower, the most recognizable part of nuclear power plant, where the heated water is exposed to the colder air and then run through past the reactor again. The water and the reactor never mix. Nuclear power is actually quite safe. The US Navy's carriers are nuclear powered. Actually a coal power plant leaks most radiation than a nuclear plant.

2. The NATO reporting name Badger can refer to both the Russian Tu-16 and the Chinese Xian H-6 since they are basically the same plane, but made by different companies.

3. From what I have gathered the navy is organized as follows. Task Elements is a single ship commanded by either a commander or captain. Then there are two types of task units: the first is a flotilla which small number of ships commanded by a rear admiral JG and the second is a squadron (navy) which is also a small number of ships commanded by a rear admiral JG, but would have carriers, battlecruisers, or battleships. A battle fleet, or task force, is two or more task units commanded by a vice admiral. They are the centerpiece of major navies (i.e. the US 8th Fleet) that operate in a specific region which is the US would be an ocean; they are usually called fleet for short. A 'true' Fleet would be two or more fleet battle fleets. It is commanded by an Admiral and would include all ships operating in an ocean. Finally is a Navy, sometimes called an Admiralty, which is commanded by a fleet admiral and would include every ship in a countries navy. Since fleet admirals don't exist during peacetime, the person who represents the US Navy on the Joint Chiefs of Staff heads up the Navy. Most major navies follow this structure, but not all.

4. The Paltus Class and an improved version the Varshavyanka Class are Russian diesel-electric submarine known commonly by its NATO reporting name the Kilo Class and Kilo 4B Class respectfully. Although only 16 plus boats are used today in the Russian Navy (8 more are believed to be in reserve) they neared the nickname 'The Black Hole' by the US Navy because it was so allusive and good at disappearing. It has 6 553mm torpedo tubes and 8 vertical launch for SA-14 Gremlin SAMs. It has one propeller and can do 25kt. It is known that it can dive to 300m (984.3ft), but those are usually well kept secrets so it may be able to go deeper. Silent speed is not mentioned, but battery powered boats are often the quietest subs and the hardest engines for passive sonar to hear. The People's Republic of China paid between 200-250 billion dollars per unit for 12 Kilo 4B Class submarines which are all in service with the People's Liberation Army Navy.

5. Susanoo, or his fill name Susano-no-Mikoto, is the Shinto God of the Sea and Storms. There is technically no limit to the number of gods in Shinto, but Susano-no-Mikoto is one of the main ones along with Amaterasu-ō-mi-kami, the goddess of the sun and Japan's unofficial primary god, hence the nation's nickname Empire of the Rising Sun.

6. Kanji is based off the Chinese writing system and they use many of the same characters, including numbers. This observer misidentified the Chinese characters for Kanji, but in this case they would be exactly the same in both languages. The Chinese military insignia is a red star just like the Russian/Soviet insignia, but it's outlined in yellow, not black. There are also the characters for eight and one inside the star in yellow which stands for August 1 when the People's Liberation Army was founded in 1927.

7. Colonel General is a rank in the People's Liberation Army Ground Forces and Air Force. It is also a rank in the Red Army and Air Force of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic. Most Westerners call it general because it would be the Chinese/Russian equivalent of a General in US, UK, Germany, etc. A General in China would be the People's Liberation Army's Chief of Staff who is currently Chen Bingbe. The Command in Chief of the People's Liberation Army would be the President of the People's Republic of China which is currently Hu Hintao.

8. Central Committee of the People's Republic of China has a Politburo of the People's Republic of China at its head with nine ministers and another 15 candidates. They have a General-Secretary as the head of state (currently Hu Jintao) who is often called a President in the West or sometimes Premier. Underneath the Politburo is the Secretariat of the People Republic of China who, like in the USSR, is the administrative branch of the Central Government. Under them is the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China who is headed by the General-Secretary. CMC is actually the lowest branch of the Central Committee. A separate branch of the Central Discipline Inspection Committee of the People's Republic of China, I think the name is pretty self-explanatory. Technically the highest branch is the National Congress of the Communist Party of the People's Republic of China, but like in the Soviet Union they don't meet often enough to make any real decisions for Chinese policy.


	52. Chapter 52: Where Do We Go From Here?

I think this chapter will mostly to be to try and tighten up the story and to answer some of the unresolved situations from the last chapter

**I have posted a preview for the next sequel on my page! Some of the finer details and the title may change other the next few weeks, but overall that will be the continuation of this story. I won't start writing it until I finish this one, but I did promise it would come and now I'm binding myself in writing to it.**

I think this chapter will mostly to be to try and tighten up the story and to answer some of the unresolved situations from the last chapter. Like so many of my chapters I'm starting with only the slightest idea of what I'm doing.

Thank you ya'll for your reviews. Seems to me that the same people who give me reviews, but I like to think of it as having a loyal fan basis. Ya'll mean a lot to me and without your support I wouldn't be getting close to finish.

I don't own any trademarked or copywrite item. Please review and/or tell a friend.

* * *

**Chapter 52: Where Do We Go From Here?**

"There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still."

32nd President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt

**0900 Hours; October 31****st****, 2010; USS Tuatha de Danaan, 18km off Kunsan; Yellow Sea, Republic of Korea**

"Okay ya'll," said Colonel Shinhachi sitting head at the head of the table. "I've been thinking over our meeting last night and I spoke with several of my contacts all across the northern RoK."

"So what's the plan Herr Oberst?" asked Oberstleutnant Baum.

"As Captain Testarossa pointed out us about the transportation problems the enemy has I decided to look into it. I spoke with my contacts and they gave me the shipment types and train schedules," said Shinhachi passing around the schedules and photos. They saw train yards 10km south of the Korean Demilitarize Zone (Korean DMZ) in a small city called Munsan, Republic of Korea. A U2 photo showed a similar trainyard 15km north of the DMZ in the industrial city of Kaesong, Democratic Republic of Korea. "If you look carefully you will notice the yards are narrow. One of the my uncles worked for the Rail Safety Board of the Department of Transportation so I know quite a bit about rail operations. What we are looking at is a single line that crosses the DMZ on a rail line that connects Seoul and Kaesong. Before the First Korean War, Kaesong was part of the RoK, but the ceasefire came and Kaesong was in Communist hands. That line hasn't been in much use since 1953 and with it running through the DMZ nobody has expanded it so it's not suited for heavy traffic."

"I gather that much, but does this tell us?" asked Captain Mofaz.

"It means that they will have trains lined up on both sides. On the north side of the border would be the trains with the supplies and on the south side would be the empty trains waiting for their turn. Now according to known patterns I can say that turning twilight hours the supply trains run south when visibility is at its worse and at other hours are the dry runs."

"So we bomb them with their pants down?" asked Major Bynes.

"According to a map of Kaesong, I wouldn't bomb there. Sure I was using a map from when it was part of the RoK, but I doubt the multiple yards were changed much. There are just too much separate yards they can use. Besides even if we did get planes in it would be difficult for them to escape North Korean airspace."

"South Korean won't like us bombing their cities," said Lt. Colonel Maiwald.

"That's probably why they aren't here because they don't like a lot of things we do," said Lt. Colonel Solomon rolling her eyes.

"Probably," agreed Maiwald.

"You two done or would you like a room?" asked Shinhachi with a raise eyebrow.

"We're good," said Solomon.

"What kind of room are we talking? Like Hawaii?" asked Maiwald with a grin.

Shinhachi leaned to his right a little and smacked his second in command upside of the head. He straightened himself and continued, "We don't need anything fancy. The truth is we only need one bomb. Here we have a tunnel on the south side of the DMZ. If we drop a bunker buster there we cave the tunnel in and make that line useless for months."

"What about the roads?" asked Commander Mardukas.

"Roads are easy to repair," said Bynes shaking her head. "That will be something the Air Force will be to deal with. A-10s would do the do the job, but we'd have to take Seoul first to eliminate the enemy's air screen."

"One bomb?" asked Captain Testarossa.

Shinhachi nodded, "We'd need two planes. One with a laser designator. Second with a Bunker Buster. If we plan it well nobody will get hurt… or at least our guys won't get hurt."

* * *

**1338 Hours; November 1****st****, 2010; Tsushima Naval Station, Tsushima Island; Nagasaki Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

Rear Admiral Byuten walked down the catwalk like gangway to the dock. Standing at the bottom of the gangway was Rear Admiral JG Toshifuki, commander of the Outer West Squadron. Toshifuki was normally only in command of a couple of anti-submarine warfare groups, including P-3C Orion ASW planes. Most of his ships were subs spying on the Chinese activities and making sure the Sea of Japan Squadrons had a save passage way. This naval yard was only a few years old and wasn't equipped to do overhauls of large ships. Truthfully, they were only here to drop of the prisoners they'd captured from the Kilo Class submarine.

"Rear Admiral Byuten," said Rear Admiral JG Toshifuki snapping to attention along with his entourage. "I wish to welcome you back to Japan. I'm sorry to hear about Vice Admiral Takeisawa. He was a good man."

"Arigato," said Byuten.

"Admiral, I was given the distress signals from a Lieutenant JG Hinamori. We tried to contact her several times, but failed. What became of her?"

"She was badly injured by exploding glass, but she'll be fine."

"And Captain Hokai?"

"We found him on one of the lower decks of the bridge. He suffered head trauma when a steel beam smacked him in the head. He only regained consciousness an hour ago, but he went back to sleep."

"The prisoners?"

"Ready for transport."

"Bring them down then, sir," said Toshifuki.

Japanese Marines in navy battledress, which for the Navy were a B-class semi-formal uniform with a flakvest and life-preserver over the tunic and a helmet instead of a cap, escorted the People's Liberation Army Navy submariners down to the dock. Some of the Chinese looked around as if they were considering escaping, but marines with H&K UMP .45s, Remington 870s, and M-14E3s were very discouraging.

"The Air Force has arranged to transport them to Yokohama. I think the Americans want to interrogate them," said Toshifuki.

"Well, as long as their off my ship," said Byuten lighting up a thin pipe. "I really don't feel like getting into a pissing match with those trigger-happy Yankees. I'll I care about are my ships."

Byuten didn't have a problem with the Americans, but he didn't like the lack of respect for the Japan and her forces that some of the Americans displayed. He hoped this battle will show the Westerners like in the Battle of Tsushima over a hundred years before showed Russia that Japan wasn't weak. He walked off with his aide, Fleet Master Chief Petty Officer (1) Hidegawa, to start writing letters to the families who lost sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, cousins, husbands, and wives in the Battle of the Yellow Sea. This was the most unpleasant job that probably ever existed.

The ships refueled. Once ready they made the short trip to Sasebo.

* * *

**1608 Hours; November 1****st****, 2010; Sasebo Naval Base, Sasebo; Nagasaki Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

Sasebo was a large city on the western coast of Kyushu. It was a little less than 100km from the Tsushima Naval Station, roughly 75km north of Nagasaki, and a little over 100km south of Kitakyushu. This was the first time they'd been to Japanese mainland since mid September. The principle Japanese naval bases were Yokosuka home of the 1st Fleet, Sasebo home of the 2nd Fleet, Kure home of the 3rd Fleet, Maizuru home of the 4th Fleet, and Ominato home of the 5th Fleet. The 4th Fleet was the Sea of Japan battle fleet which was responsible for defending Japan's western coast. The 5th fleet was the northern battle fleet which was based on northern Honshu, but they commanded the Hokkaido squadrons. The main training/drill waters for the Federal Navy was up there off the eastern coast of Hokkaido.

Sasebo had been occupied by the US Navy since 1945, but was returned to the Japanese shortly after Japan joined NATO. The US Navy still operated ships at of Sasebo and a couple of NATO surface ships were being repaired in dry-docks. Sasebo was now a joint NATO base, but under strict Japanese command and control.

The Sutsuru pulled into a large hanger like dock. Although planes could take off the flight deck while inside, spy planes and satellites couldn't see the work being done on the carrier. There were seven other massive hanger like docks. One bore the Ryūhō, one had the Sutsuru, four more were empty, and the other two were under heavy guard.

One of the two heavily guarded docks had the Ryūsu Class aircraft carrier JFS Hiryū (CVN-08). The second had the Meiji Class battleship JFS Shōwa (BB-03). Neither ships were finished and wouldn't be done until at least January.

The lines were secured and a couple of gangways were dropped for people to disembark.

Hinamori was being carried gently down another gangway. She was only semi-conscious, but she was coming to. She knew she was moving. She couldn't feel her legs. That scared her. She put a hand on her knee and found it was still there. Hinamori exhaled in relief.

"Lieutenant, daijōbu desu ka?" asked a concerned seaman who was carrying one end of the stretcher she was on.

"Kibun ga warui desu (I don't feel well)," groaned Hinamori.

"Lieutenant wa daijōbu desu (2)," said a master chief petty officer with a medical patch on his sleeve.

"I can't feel my legs," said Hinamori fearing they'd been amputated.

"Morphine does that ma'am. Your surgery went fine and we're transferring you to a land hospital for recovery. Admiral's orders ma'am."

"I see…" said Hinamori feeling sleepy.

"The medication is taking effect. Just go to sleep Lieutenant, you'll be okay," he said.

Yūki was brushing her hair in the room she shared with four other female NCOs. She looked at herself in small mirror that was glued to the wall. She decided to leave her hair down and not put it in its usual braids. She then pulled on the dark navy blue, almost black, uniform. This color was worn by most navies during winter seasons or in cold climates as opposed to the white uniform worn during summer/tropical climates. It was now late fall and the wool blend tunic and ankle length skirt was a blessed relief from the cold now settling in East Asia. She put on a white cap with black brim that looked like the officers' cap, but with a lower rim and a no gold trim on the cap. She put a the tunic with a black patch with two gold arcs and a chevron with a gold star on top that marked her as a Petty Officer 2nd Class. She finally put on a long heavy wool overcoat that was basically a heavier thicker longer version of the tunic complete with her rank insignias, unit insignias, and a ribbon for a service medal.

She stood up and left her room grabbing a 70 hour pass as she left. There were rumors going around that the leave may be extended since most of the People's Liberation Army Navy was now keeping close to their shores under heavy air cover. Most of NATO's naval forces were entering support roles for the ground and air forces. Chief of the Federal Navy, Admiral Mizuryū Chidori, was withdrawing most of the Navy to home waters. The 1st Fleet was heard to be doing drills up in the Sagami Sea (3). There was a chance the 2nd Fleet would go to the Eastern Pacific/Western United States Command to train with the US Navy.

She walked down the gangway and towards the exit. A pair of MPs was standing at a guard post to make sure unauthorized personnel didn't enter or exit. She showed them the pass and they let her continue.

Security at Sasebo was heavy. It was always this way because the US Navy kept some nuclear missiles in Sasebo for their Ohio Class ballistic missile submarines. It was now under heavier security because Japanese now had three carriers and a battleship in Sasebo.

Yūki looked around. Mountains came together in a crescent shape forming a bay. The city of Sasebo was all around the bay with both civilian and navy ports. The air was cold and Yūki drew a scarf more firmly around her neck. She was grateful for the Navy's conservative skirt which like most things in the military, not stylish but practical. It was surprisingly easy to move in it and she suspected she could even run. The mostly the thing was warm, not like her school uniform which left her legs freezing.

Natsuyami was standing near the entrance to the base. He was standing in his B class semi-formal uniform which looked like the female uniform, but had a double-breasted overcoat and naturally he wore pants. He was looking at the large radio tower near the naval base.

"Keisuke," said Yūki tapping him on the shoulder, "what are you staring at?"

"That radio tower over there," he said pointing. "In 1941 they used that tower to send the message 'Clime Mt. Niitaka'. You know, the signal to attack the Americans at Pearl Harbor. Kinda' ironic the Americans have been using this base for over 60 years."

Yūki gave a light laugh. Natsuyami was rambling and she was just nodding and made the appropriate gestures in response. It was clear they were both nervous as they walk to a bus stop nearby.

* * *

**1700 Hours; November 1****st****, 2010; Matsuri Restaurant, Yagami; Kanagawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

"Here's your food, sorry about the delay," said a man with blonde hair. Asou Yuuya was hard at work doing his brother's job while he was at war. Yuuya straightened to picture of his brother's squad escorting the Chinese commander at Shinomoseki to a chopper. It was difficult to recognize them and they were only mentioned as a unit of the 6th Infantry Division. There were photos of the locals that had gone to war displayed prominently. Yuuya suspected it was because this restaurant served Chinese food and they were trying to look patriotic to keep the locals from burning the Matsuri to the ground.

"Yuuya-kun, you can take a break for now. The dinner rush doesn't start for another hour," said Sarah dressed in the Chinese style dress she normally wore while at work.

"Arigato Adiemus-sempai," said Yuuya taking a seat. He looked up at the TV mounted over the bar and switched the channel to the news.

"Command of the NATO forces in the Western Pacific, General O'Grady Michael, gave a speech to the press," said a newscaster.

The scene changed to a picture of a white man with grey hair and glasses with circular panes. He looked like he was in his 50s or 60s. As he spoke in English subtitles appeared to translate what he said.

"My field commanders have confirmed that we hold the North Jeolla Province. Currently our forces are preparing to make the last push to end this war. Ladies and gentlemen of the Republic of Korea and Federation of Japan and all of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the end is in sight!"

There was a cheer from an unseen crowd that was apparently watching General O'Grady speak.

"Konbanwa Sarah," said a familiar voice. Yakumo entered the restaurant with Tenma, Mai, Sachi, and third young girl. The new girl had short hair with a single thin pigtail that stuck out of her head at an odd angle. Sarah had seen her before and new her name was Tennouji Mio (4), younger sister of delinquent Tennouji Noboru. Mio was one of Mai's friends.

"Hi Yakumo," said Sarah mixing a little English into her greeting. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We're catching an early dinner and then we're going to see a movie," said Tenma cheerfully as usual.

"That sounds like fun," said Sarah with her usual smile. "I wish I could join you, but I have to work."

"Too bad," said Sachi taking a seat. "Maybe you can come next time and bring your boyfriend."

"The war has to end first," said Sarah turning a little red and pulling out a notepad to write down dinner orders. They gave Sarah their orders and she went back to the kitchen to pass it on to the cook.

"So Yakumo," said Sarah, "have you heard from him?"

Yakumo smiled. She seemed so much happier since she confessed. "Iē, I told him to tell me in person. I figure he'll need a few weeks to come up with an answer… Kenji usually needs a lot of time to think. Hopefully he'll have an answer. Emma-san was right, it's easy once you confess."

"Is she the lady on the homeshopping channel?" asked Tenma.

"Iē, an American who is translating Kenji-san and my manga into English and German. She's also a manga artist and the Chief Editor is producing one of her mangas here in Japan."

"So you listen to her when she says come out and tell Kenji-kun, but not your Nee-san?" said Tenma sounding hurt.

"Well… hai."

"Waaaahh! Yakumo you're so mean," wailed Tenma.

"Gomen," apologized Yakumo bowing her hear slightly.

"It's okay, I understand," said Tenma bouncing back in the blink of an eye. Yakumo giggled a little, not something she did much, but somewhere life seemed so much easier.

"Oi, Ni-kun!" called Tenma to Yuuya. "What's the word?"

"War seems to be drawing to a close," he said. "But the Army probably has ways to go."

"Yay, that mean's your boyfriend is going home," said Tenma nudging her sister.

"Nee-san, we're not dating," said Yakumo. She was hoping that would change.

"I hope he'll be okay," said Mio.

"Harima-sempai is a tough man," said Sachi.

"Onii-chan is tough, but the People's Liberation Army and Korean People's Army are being backed into a corner. Like trapped animals, trapped soldiers can be violent and unpredictable," said Mai being realistic.

There was some uncomfortable shifting.

"But I'm sure Onii-chan and Onii-sama will be fine," added Mai seeing Yakumo and Sarah's faces go pale in milliseconds (5).

* * *

**1600 Hours; November 1****st****, 2010; Shopping District, Taegu; Taeju Special Administrative Province, Republic of Korea**

The 10th Infantry Division was moved up to the front as relief. The 6th Infantry Division was completely exhausted and the Japanese Federal Army wanted it rested and at full strength in force for the push for Seoul. Harima was in other words on leave. He was walking around the streets of Taegu alone. He had been with Hanai, Kitsumori, and Jupei, but they had gone separate ways to look for souvenirs for family and friends.

Harima walked alone down the streets aware that people seemed to be staring at him. His B-class semi-formal uniform was spotless and he hoped it was making a good impression on the Korean people. Not everyone seemed to hate the Japanese though, some waved at him. The Koreans seemed to be happy to have **their** city back in **their** hands.

Harima stopped in front of a shop. It was selling some Korean kimonos which looked a lot like Japanese ones, but different symbolism and styles of art work. 'I wonder if Yakumo would like one of these, she would look nice any of them… huh?'

He shook his head and walked on. He was still trying to think about his feelings, something he was bad at without help. He'd talked to his Hanai and Kitsumori, but they weren't much help. He asked Jupei because she was a woman and he hoped woman's perspective would help, but it didn't. He asked other squad members including Asou. He asked Mori who they call Oka-san…

Harima froze. It was a gamble, but it might just work.

He looked around. He was near train station. There may be a payphone in there. He entered the station and looked around until he saw a bunch of phone booths tucked in a corner next to the bathrooms. He walked over and slid the accordion style doors shut. He placed a couple of coins in and dialed a number he hadn't dialed in a long time.

"Harima Residence, Shuuji (6) speaking," said a boy answering the phone.

"Hey there Shuuji, how's it going little bro?"

"……… Nii-san?" asked a stunned Shuuji.

"Hai, is Oka-chan there?"

Harima took a deep breath as Shuuji went to get their mother. He was mentally bracing himself. His mother was like an emotional typhoon. She was kind of like Tsukamoto Tenma in that she friendly and loving, but could go from crying to rage to happy in three seconds.

A calm unsuspecting female voice answered, "Harima Kaori speaking, whom may I ask is speaking?"

"Moshi moshi Oka-chan," said Harima throwing himself into the breach.

"………………………"

"Oka-chan? Are you there? It's me, Kenji."

"Kenji!!" shrieked Harima Kaori in delight. Harima had to hold the phone away from his ear to save his hearing. "How have you been?! It's been so long since you called! What has it been… 9 months?"

"Hai, about that, maybe a little longer... Gomennasai," Harima apologized.

"Where are you?" she asked still sounding overjoyed at hearing her son.

"Taegu, we're on rotation and their letting our division rest."

"So why did you call?" she asked shrewdly. His mother may be airy, but she had razor-sharp instincts.

"So if I were to go over there, you'd be there?" she asked suddenly.

"Hai, but…"

**Buzzzzzzzzzzzz.**

A dial tone blared in his ears.

'Dear Amaterasu (7), what have I done?'

* * *

**0915 Hours; November 2****nd****, 2010; Taegu International Airport, Taegu; Taegu Special Administrative Province, Republic of Korea**

Taegu International Airport was being used as a NATO Base of operations, but civilian traffic has started up again early the previous week. The NATO troops were using the warehouses that cargo planes had used before the war so that civilian passengers had free rein of the commercial terminals. The 81st Regiment was in makeshift barracks at the east end of the main runway. It was noisy, but most were use to sleeping during artillery barrages.

Harima was cleaning his M-14E3 automatic rifle, the weapon that he'd used since Shinomoseki. He looked at himself in a mirror hanging on the locker next to his bed. Harima had combed his hair forwards like he'd done when he briefly worked for the Suō Family (8) a little while back. He recalled Yakumo saying he looked better this way… not that he cared about looking good for her… really!

"Kenji," said Hanai entering the room.

"Hai?"

"Captain wants you."

"Why?" asked Harima learning his rifle against his locker.

Hanai shrugged, "Don't know, but I don't think your in trouble… or have you done something?"

Harima founded thinking, "I don't remember doing anything, but you know my memory is bad."

Harima stood up. He put his rifle in his locker, but decided to keep his knife and sidearm with him. He was in his olive drab B-class semi-formal uniform which solders in the army normally wore when on a base. He made sure his appearance was proper, he didn't want to piss off his short, but dangerous CO. He put on a field cap which was a round rim cap with a flat top and a brim. The entire cap was uniformly olive drab. He looked presentable which should be enough.

"Do I look okay?"

"Better than usual with your hair," said Hanai. "You don't look like trouble for once, Kenji."

"Arigato," said Harima, but not without noticing the subtitle insult. He walked out the door.

Harima hitched a ride on a MP's MUTT jeep to the officer's building. The officer's building was a bunch of tents attached together by smaller tents that bridged the gaps. The MPs dropped him off at Echo Company's 'offices'. He knocked on a wooden door with a sign that read 'Cpt. Hitsugaya Tōshirō; Echo Company CO; 27 Infantry Battalion'.

"Enter!" called a strict military voice of his captain.

"You called, sir?" asked Harima entering the room and saluting his company CO.

"Someone to see you Pvt. Harima," said Captain Hitsugaya looking exhaust from something.

"Huh?"

"KENJI!!" cried a familiar voice from behind. The next thing Harima knew he was being smothered by a woman. She looked to be in her mid 30s, but Harima knew she was in fact 48 years old. She had black hair and black eyes just like the young man she was hugging to death. She was tall for a Japanese woman, but 6cm shorter than Harima. She was dressed in a business suit with a black jacket over a white collared shirt and a black suit pants. Her name was Harima Kaori, mother of Harima Kenji and Harima Shuuji.

"Harima-sama, I would asked that you lessen your grip before you kill a valued soldier," said Captain Hitsugaya. He was tired. He had enough problems without Pvt. Harima's problems. Hitsugaya he didn't need to deal with this woman when he was currently worried about a special friend currently in a Navy hospital on Tsushima Island.

"Ah, gomen Histugaya-san," said Kaori. "I hope you don't mind, but I wish to take my son to lunch."

Hitsugaya waved his hand dismissively, "It's not like we need him for anything today. He just has to report back by 2000 hours."

"Arigato," said Kaori taking a recovering Kenji out with her.

They were now walking down the streets around the airport. Many restaurants were in the area for tourist staying at hotels near the airport. A number of them were up and running again with ARoK MPs patrolling the streets.

"What's good place to eat here Kenji?" asked his mother.

"I'm not sure… uh some of the restaurants have opened again," said Kenji not really sure what to say. He should have seen this coming, but he forgot he called his mother yesterday. 'Me and my fucking memory.'

"How about there," she said pointing to an expensive looking place that made his heart stop.

"Oka-chan I can't afford-"

"Which is why I am paying," she said in a sweat voice that said 'you have no choice in this matter'. "You never ask me for anything Kenji, so let me do this for you."

Kenji never had money, but his family did. Harima Kaori was a manager of Yagami's division of the Japanese Federal Central Bank. Kenji didn't like money that he didn't earn himself. He was too proud to take handouts unless he literally forced to. He'd moved out of his home at the age of 15. When he was 17 and returning to high school he moved in with his cousin Itoko. Kenji had the very distinctive feeling Ikoto was force to make Kenji live with her by his mother.

"I feel a little underdressed," said mumbled. It was than he realized he was still armed with his knife and Colt .45 semi-auto handgun. 'Shit I should have left those behind.'

His mother ordered for him. He didn't care, but he was trying to avoid attracting attention. Kenji wasn't sure who people would react to an armed soldier being among them. His only stroke of luck was that most of the people in the room were foreign business men and women who were too busy with other things.

"So, Kenji, tell me about Mai?"

"Itoko told you?" Kenji asked knowing his family's politics well.

"Of course. Surely you know why she is keeping tabs on you," said Kaori.

"It was kinda' obvious. Well, where to begin? … When I was first in Korea everything was a mess. We found her, Mai. She was a lot stronger than us. The Army never prepared us for a war. She knew what to do better than us at that time. I don't think we'd be alive without her. We decided to take her to the airport where our forces so she could evacuate with the other civilians. The airport was bombed and her surviving family died so she was stranded with the retreating forces and an orphan. Once we got out of Korea a Lt. Colonel in the US Special Forces secured her citizenship. As a group we decided that I was the only one with room for her so I was made her official legal guardian."

"You're her father then?" asked his mother.

"Legally, that's what they told me, but we prefer to think of it as her being my little sister since I'm only 7 years older than her."

"Well that's a relief, I'm too young to be a grandmother," said Kaori sighing in relief. Kenji sweat-dropped. "What's she like?"

"Smart, strong, independent, and clever," said Kenji.

"Like Itoko?" asked Kaori sounding worried.

"Kinda' but she's friendly and polite."

"Where is she now?"

"At the Tsukamoto's home."

"Tsukamoto? … mmm… didn't you have a crush on a Tsukamoto Tenma for years?"

"Hai," mumbled Kenji sliding down in his seat.

"Speak up and don't slouch," ordered his mother.

"Hai, Oka-chan," said Kenji sitting up again.

She smiled sweetly. "You like very handsome, Kenji. You look so much like your father with your hair like that… he'd be so proud of how much you've grown and how hard you work… if he was still with us."

An awkward silence fell over the two of them. Harima Hiroki died in a car accident shortly after Shuuji was born. Harima was barely 9 at the time and the family was never the same since. Hiroki was a manga artist, but was never published. He never let that get to him, he was stubborn and did things with a passion. Finally a company had taken interest in him and he went to speak with them on an icy day in late January. Kaori did her best with Kenji and Shuuji, but Kenji was too proud and independent to stay at home.

"… I miss him," he said. It was something he'd never said aloud before.

"Me too, he was so much like you. Proud, not the brightest, and kinda' scary looking, but he had such a good heart and he never meant to cause harm," said Kaori looking straight into her son's eyes. Kenji had her eyes, but his father's intensive stare. "So why the call?"

Harima pulled out a small photo taken shortly after his first manga went national at the end of his second year of high school. It also had Yakumo in it standing awkwardly next to him. "You've read my manga, right?"

"Something your father would have been proud of. He wanted at least one child to success in the manga industry and you're doing very well." She knew Kenji didn't want to hear her say how much she was worried.

"My assistant," said Kenji pointing to Yakumo. "You'd probably know her as Imōto Yakumo, but her real name is Tsukamoto Yakumo."

"Tsukamoto?"

"Tenma's little sister. Anyways, she has been my best friend for a long time… actually before the Army she was my only friend… well the Tea Club people were kinda' my friends-"

"Kenji, you getting off track," said Kaori.

"Gomen, anyways, I never really thought about her beyond a friend, but…"

"She felt more for you, ne?" asked his mother with a wide grin spreading across her face. Kenji face started to turn red and looked huffily to one side so not to see his mother's smirk. "She looks so cute Kenji. So you like the shy type?"

"How'd- ?"

"It's obvious by the picture that she's very shy."

"How do women know these things?"

"We just do. So you like her?" she prompted.

"That's why I called… I like Yakumo and she's been my closest and most trusted friend, but I don't know if it goes beyond that."

Kaori nodded knowingly in a way only a mother could. "Tell me about her."

"Huh?" Kenji said nonplused.

"Describe her the way you see her," Kaori elaborated.

"Well… she's pretty, but there a lot more that her than that."

'Kenji, you don't know many girls live to hear that,' his mother sighed internally.

"She can cook… she's good with domestic skills like cleaning, sowing, and cooking, but even I can do that. I wouldn't be alive living with Itoko if I couldn't feed myself and naturally I couldn't expert her clean my room. I also can't really afford to replace my clothes half the time so I had to be able to fix them. You can't expect Itoko to do any of those things for me, can you?"

"Iē, but you wouldn't have it any other way would you?" asked Kaori.

"True."

"So about Yakumo-san?"

"She likes animals. That's why she first approached, me because I was good with animals and they liked me. See doesn't judge people on their appearances so my delinquent appearance didn't bother her. She's shy. She doesn't like attention. It overwhelms her. She also has this ability to see right through people. I don't know how, but she can see who I really am in ways nobody has ever understood."

Kaori nodded. She was mildly impressed at her son's improved vocabulary and his ability to express himself.

"I feel comfortable around her. I don't have to be a tough guy, I don't have to be overly friendly, and I don't have reinvent myself like I had to for others. I am myself for what that's worth and she can be herself. She doesn't open up to other people. Hell, I think Yakumo may have even less friends than me because she's so shy. I don't think there is a person she talks to more than me or her sister or the hand full of people in the Tea Club."

"You kinda' used her you know. To get closer to her sister."

"I know and I'm not proud of that. I've been kicking myself for not noticing her feelings earlier, it should have been obvious. Who knows how many other people may have felt something for me and I didn't notice. I don't know what to do Oka-chan. I can't get her out of my head. She's never tried to do anything to me but be my friend and help me with a manga. I try my best to consider her feelings because she's a good person and a talented artist. She's smart in ways I'm not so she's a big help with the contracts… she has always had my back when people tried to take advantage of my lack of intelligence. I just want to do the right thing for her," finished Kenji showing a scared and confused boy that Kaori hadn't seen since his father died.

"You care about her?"

"Hai."

"Start with that feeling. Work it out from there," Kaori said gently. "I can't tell you what you feel Kenji. Only you know, but I can help you to figure out your feelings. So let's get started…"

* * *

**0237 Hours; November 2****nd****, 2010; somewhere north of Seoul, 200m above the ground; Kyŏnggi Province, Republic of Korea**

This was a dangerous mission. If they were spotted they would be caught in between air-defenses and fighter interceptors from all directions. 200m (656.2ft) was a lot closer to the ground than they were comfortable with. They were flying the new Lockheed-Martin F-35B Lightening-II. The F-35B was the V/STOL (vertical/short take off and landing) version of the three F-35s meant for the USMC. The F-35B had shorter range than the USAF's F-35A land-based short take off fighter or the USN F-35C carrier-based fighter. It was also using up fuel flying at such low altitudes, not to mention it was dangerous considering the mountainous landscape of Korea.

The two F-35Bs did not communicate. They were under strict orders to not break radio silence and they knew exactly what to do so radios weren't necessary.

A storm was supposed to hit the Kyŏnggi Province around 0600 hours and it threatened snow. Chopper pilots told horror stories of flying in blizzards around the DMZ where you could fly into a mountain, high-tension electrical wires, or worse, the over DMZ.

The lead plane flew gently to the right. There was a fork ahead in the valley they were in. The left one would take them too close to the highway the PKA were using. The right one was a little more risky, but it would be deserted. The second plane followed. She scanned the sky for fighter planes. She'd seen MiG-21s early, but no hostile planes were in the area. Her threat radar which was on low power to avoid detection showed a couple of radar sites on full active scans, but not in there direction. There was no indication they'd been seen yet.

The HUD show their next and final waypoint before the target was straight ahead. The lead plane checked his equipment. He had no missiles, only a laser designator. The second plane also had no missiles, only a single laser guided GBU-28 Bunker Buster. Thus meant they couldn't really engage enemy planes, but they needed to leave munitions behind for lighter weight and longer range.

800m to target. The lead climbed slowly. He feared the sudden movement or accelerating would attract attention, but it had to be done. He pressed the weapons' bay door on his panel. He was in a narrow valley. The current radar sites wouldn't see the signature from the bay being open.

The second plane saw the bay open on her element leader. She opened her bay, armed the GBU-28, and activated her targeting system to track the beam. A tone sounded and she pressed the bomb release. She closed the bay doors, radar waves could bounce off the open doors and the Lightening would show up on radar. The lead plane couldn't close his doors just yet. He had to wait for the Bunker Buster to find its target.

They saw the small flash of yellow obscured by a flume of dust and dirt. The lead plane closed the door, it couldn't help the bomb any more. The bomb had blown a small hole in the ground and was currently burrowing down into the ground. The BGU-28 was designed to arm itself being put under immense pressure while burrowing. When it found an underground room the sudden loss in pressure would be the trigger for it to detonate. The BGU-28 would also self-destruct after a point if it didn't find a target as an added safety.

A much larger explosion went off. They saw the orange flash and rush of smoke and dust come out of the tunnel entrance. The pilot of the second plane thought she could see some of the mountain to collapse upon itself and into the tunnel, but couldn't be sure. It was hard to track ground movement at 440kt.

They turned and head towards a predetermined route. It was almost 0300 hours. Statistically, human reaction time was at its worse around now. That was also part of the plan. The pilot of the lead plane smile, this was well thought out plan. He only hoped it would get them to the Yellow Sea alive, at the least.

There were a couple of active search radars on a few mountaintops and scanning, but not enough to suggest the PKA knew something was wrong. At there low power the F-35 was hard to detect. It was a good thing too because they no missiles to engage fighters with if they were spotted.

They soared low over the deserted region of northwestern South Korea, it wasn't a popular place to live because it was so close to the DMZ. The lead pilot rolled his plane to avoid colliding with a high-tension power he hadn't seen until it was almost too late. The second pilot detected search radar systems from fighters. She could tell they were signatures that were from MiG-23s. She quietly prayed as the MiGs flew high over head towards the south. Nothing. Downward search radars weren't as good overland as upward search radars, but the mountains wouldn't even allow that. In some ways Korea was one of the best places to fly undetected, provided skilled pilots were used.

They saw it at last, the Yellow Sea. Two planes flew out of no where. It made the two pilots hearts stop. The two planes flew in front of them showing White Star insignias. The two pilots relaxed, these were there escorts back to the Danaan. Major Bynes would be very proud of her two best pilots. They'd done there end, the question was: did it work?

* * *

**1941 Hours; November 1****st****, 2010; Sasebo Naval Base, Sasebo; Nagasaki Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

'I not getting anywhere,' groaned Natsuyami. He'd spent nearly four hours rambling to conceal how nervous he was. Yūki was thinking the same thing. Both in their own minds were wondering if a direct approach would be easier… or at least less of a struggle.

They were eating at a small ramen shop. The owner put two bowls of pork ramen in front of Yūki and Natsuyami.

"Dōzō (here)," said the owner.

"Arigato," said the two petty officers as they pealed apart the chopsticks.

"So you two just getting into port?" asked the owner.

"Hai," said Yūki. "We just got back from the Yellow Sea."

"I heard there was a battle up there," said the man.

Natsuyami nodded, "We intercepted a Chinese convoy."

"You win?"

"I guess," said Natsuyami looking to Yūki for her opinion. Yūki, whose mouth was half full of noodles, only shrugged. It was hard to tell with these kinds of battles. It was a victory by the fact they'd accomplished their primary objective, but the fact they were forced to withdraw out of the northern Yellow Sea by the threat of PLANAF and the lose of their battle fleet commander blunted the feeling of victory.

"So what do you two do?" asked a sailor from one of the cargoships in port.

"Missile techs," said Yūki.

"Know any of those sub killers?"

"Some, why?"

"Some of those guys saved our asses when a Chinese sub attacked our convoy. A frigate I think, it and her chopper took out that sub before it got our ship. We'd never made it to Kunsan without them."

"Well, I'll pass you gratitude to the ASW guys."

The sailor checked his watch. Dropped some Yen on the counter and headed out. Yūki and Natsuyami ate in silence. They finished, left a couple of 500-en coins on the table and went into the cold. Southern Japan, namely Kyushu, was not nearly as cold as the Korean Peninsula, northern Honshu, or Hokkaido which were already getting snow. Yūki looked up at the blackish sky. Many residences had put covers over there windows to make the city harder to see from a distance. Sasebo had been bombed by the PLAAF before, but the city had stayed in NATO hands even during the invasion. Perhaps the Chinese were worried the Americans would use the nuclear weapons kept here or perhaps the Americans had defended Sasebo so hard because they didn't want the nukes to fall into enemy hands. Either way the city was in NATO hands throughout the war.

The street lights were kept on for public safety though, but businesses and homes tried to avoid being too bright. The effect resulted in the stars being visible.

Yūki shivered. Yagami was colder during this time of year, but Yūki had spent half the war in the southern seas around Kyushu. She moved closer to the one warm object near her.

"Cold?" asked Natsuyami as Yūki linked her arm in his.

"A little," she admitted, but she was feeling warmer being this close.

"Doesn't your family name mean snow?"

"Iē, different characters. Yūki uses the characters 'finished' and 'castle'."

Yūki looked up at Natsuyami. He was two years older than her and was had attended a pretty well respected university. He was smart, but a little awkward. He been pretty stoic and military when they'd first met, but she'd learn that was because some of his friends had died in Korea. Natsuyami had also lost a younger brother who flew a transport plane for the Air Force and was shot down by the PKAF over Shikoku the week before they started their assignments together. Yūki had hardly heard from any of her friends other than her best friend Sagano who had a few close calls, but she'd not suffered the same loses as Natsuyami.

"Aries," she said pointing to the sky.

"Mmm?" he said following her pointing finger to the constellation.

"It's my zodiac sign," she said the ram constellation. "I was in the astrology club at my high school."

"Heh, I was in the history club at mine," he said looking at the star. "Is that why you're always on deck at night?"

"I love the stars and being far away from the cities makes it easier to see," she said staring at the sky with wonder in her eyes. Natsuyami was please that not even the war had been able to take this look of innocents from her. She looked at Natsuyami who was staring at the sky with his two color eyes she'd found so beautiful, left one silver-grey, right one emerald-green. They were in a scenic overlook of the port. It was quite a scene. Natsuyami looked over at Yūki his face turning red, but not from cold. Yūki blushed, but didn't look away for once. As if magnetized they moved closer together. They leaned in towards each other and…

"Ow!" they both yelped. Yūki's circular shaped glasses and Natsuyami's rectangular shaped glasses had collided. Both were rubbing their noses where the bridge had pinched them.

They looked at each, both extremely embarrassed.

"I guess we shouldn't be surprised things don't go too smoothly for us," he said. She nodded. Yūki placed her glasses in her lap and placed a hand on his shoulder. He put a hand on her arm. Their lips met without incident this time. Yūki almost gave a start at the sudden warmth that radiated throughout her body. Natsuyami was trying to contain a moan. Neither one wanted this moment to end… or admit to the other this was both their first kiss. Somewhere in the backs of their minds they knew inter-military relationships were frowned upon, but it wasn't like they were going to tell anybody.

This wasn't about the Navy or the military or NATO or the war. This was about them and nobody else. They were not soldiers at this time. They were lovers.

* * *

**2200 Hours; November 2****nd****, 2010; USS Tuatha de Danaan, 40km northeast of Kunsan; Yellow Sea, Republic of Korea**

"I say your pilots should get medals," said Major Nichols to Major Bynes. "One of my countrymen's satellites passed over the area and got photos. We have thousands of tons of military supplies stuck on the north side and now they have to use trucks to transport supplies across the DMZ."

"I put in for the Silver Star. I think with my report the DoD (Department of Defense) will be willing to give those two higher commendations," said Major Bynes.

"So we've choked them by a fair amount," said Lt. Colonel Maiwald. "Once the main body advances on Seoul, our Air Force can take care of the land routes… North Korea doesn't have heavy transport planes, do they?"

"A couple of old Soviet surplus, but not remotely the numbers they'd need," said Captain Testarossa without even having to look. The PKAF was mostly outdated Russian planes. They wouldn't be any to do a large scale airlift. The PLAAF couldn't even do it. It was the enemy's biggest weakest in the war, the inability to transport large numbers of heavy equipment by anything other than land.

"Okay then," said Maiwald clapping his hands together. "The Marines broke out and now 3rd Marine Division and the South Korean 2nd Army are advancing into the Kangwŏn Province. I have a field team forward of the main advance. From what I hear the PLA is withdrawing and consolidating their forces in the Kyŏnggi Province."

"The must know we have them beat," said Oberstleutnant Baum. "They don't have the supplies to sustain the whole front and fight two massive groups. The mountains and rivers would force us to attack on something narrower though. I'd say a couple of divisions could still attack, but they wouldn't be facing two armies."

Shinhachi nodded. It was the smartest thing to do. Colonel General Xiao who was commanding the PLA's war in Korea wasn't known for this kind of reasoning. He was the kind of man who'd fight foolishly to the last man for every piece of ground. Shinhachi couldn't think what would force a zealous Communist and a patriot to yield to their 'imperial-capitalists' enemies.

"Now we need to finish off China," said Captain Mofaz. "I say we hit something that isn't too big that it would be heavily defended, but something the government can't hide from the people. We have to embarrass the their Central Government."

The other officers agreed with the Israeli Army Special Forces captain, the 'good old' bureaucracy stood in their way.

"I sent a message to Washington," said Shinhachi. "Our current rules of engagement won't allow for an attack on the PRC (People's Republic of China) without permission from the Federal Government. Normally I wouldn't care, we all have been on black ops missions before, but I want to keep my options open and we may need the regular military's aid."

It would be very difficult to explain something blowing up in China. He was already under suspicion for the destruction of the ships in Port Arthur, but his handlers in the CIFA had cover things up. Also the Chinese couldn't prove sabotage because all the bodies and evidence were vaporized by the fuel bombs exploding with the force equal to a small atomic bomb, but with a much shorter blast radius.

* * *

**2130 Hours; November 2****nd****, 2010; Military Intelligence Bureau, Beijing; Beijing Special Administrative Region, People's Republic of China **

Colonel General Kai'ang Cheung, head of the Military Intelligence Bureau of the People's Liberation Army, was reviewing a message to Washington DC. It was sent from an unknown source and relayed to several communication posts until it reached one in San Francisco where Cheung had a man inserted among the Americans com-officers.

"General, the Minister of Foreign Affairs is here," said a captain.

"Let him in," said Cheung. He'd called the minister.

"General, you called me?" asked Minister Lui Bei, a minister in the Politburo of the PRC Communist Party.

"You asked me to tell you if I learned anything that may help us," he said passing the message. "It seems the Americans have learned of our situation. Some covert agent calling himself 'Piney Creek' says he may be able to force us out of the war by being it to the homeland. Piney Creek was too smart to give any details, but he sees our weakness. His one concern is a response from the Second Artillery Corps."

The Second Artillery Corps naturally would be a concern for NATO, it was the Chinese nuclear command after all.

"Who is he?" asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

"Don't know much, but the KGB has a file on him," he said in a tone that suggested Cheung would sooner die than ask the Soviets, especially the arrogant KGB, for help.

"What do you have?"

"He's an American in SOCOM. He first appeared on our 'radar' less than a year ago when he murdered one of our officers in the western autonomous regions. We've traced him back a little further, but not much. Most of his actions have been directed against the Soviets. My guess is he's young and hasn't been active long, but was well trained by a highly skilled veteran because he acts like a long standing vet. I've got nothing on who may have trained him, but I suspect it would be someone who has dealt with the Soviets more than us."

"Could we use him?" asked Minister Bei carefully. "Can we manipulate him to do the People's Republic a service?"

"He's smart, but we may be able to give him an opportunity. He knows what to do. He knows what you and the other ministers are planning. It would be to everybody's advantage."

"This could bite us in the ass later on," said Minister Bei.

"True, but what choice do you and the other ministers have?" asked General Cheung.

"None," said Minister Bei knowing the People's Army and the Central Committee options were limited and so was time. They had to strike as soon as possible. Bei got up to leave, but paused at the door. "Do what you must."

"I'll make sure to cover our tracks," assured Cheung.

* * *

**1700 Hours; November 3****rd****, 2010; Café Mercado, Yagami; Kanagawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

Among the many outfits her job had her wear, the bunny costume was the one Yakumo hated wearing the most. For some bizarre reason the large stuff animal like costume attracted more attention than the fucking maid outfit. The bunny costume was not only embarrassing to wear, but awkward to move around in and difficult to carry a tray which as why she was rarely made to wear it.

Her shift ended though and she gladly changed back into her school uniform in the backroom. She exited the café and to her shock there was a familiar blonde waiting for her.

"Konnichiwa, Yakumo," said the blonde woman with her hair in two long pigtails. She had aggressive amber eyes. She was highly attractive from a male standpoint by her curvy body.

"Konnichiwa, Sawachika-sempai. It's been a while," said Yakumo feeling a little shiver of fear. Sawachika Eri had always been Yakumo's one rival for Harima's attention. Even if there had been others, Sawachika would have been the fiercest opponent no matter what. But Yakumo knew her one weakness, Sawachika wouldn't admit her feelings and wouldn't face them.

"So, Tenma tells me you've been in contact with Harima-kun," Sawachika said seeming to skirt the issue at hand narrowly. She was bating Yakumo. Sawachika would try and get Yakumo to make the first move and then seize whatever opportunity it gave her.

"Hai," said Yakumo keeping her expression stoic. She wasn't Takano's apprentice and successor without learning some of her mentor's tricks.

"So…" she started, but her voice died in mid-sentence.

"So…?" prompted Yakumo. She wasn't going to make this easier for Sawachika. Yakumo knew this day would come. She couldn't afford to lose, not after putting her feelings on the line. Yakumo had come too far and no matter how much she was scared she wasn't going to back down quietly like she always had in the past.

Sawachika was a little taken aback. Yakumo was usually passive and non-confrontational, but she was standing her ground. "You've change."

"Hai, and so has Kenji-san, but you wouldn't know that would you," said Yakumo surprising herself much more than Sawachika at the insult. "Gomen…"

Yakumo mentally kicked herself at the apology. It was a sign of weakness and she knew it would cost her the momentum she'd gained.

"It's okay… you're right," admitted Sawachika. This surprised Yakumo. She switched tactics, there wasn't a need to be too hostile.

They started walking. Yakumo was headed home and Sawachika was planning on visiting Tenma anyways.

"How is he?" she asked after a while.

"… it's hard to describe. He's changed a lot. He's more… mature and realistic," Yakumo said. "I'd say Kenji-san has grown a lot… but I see he's also been scarred by the war. He has nightmares and he is sometimes paranoid. He has made a lot of friends in the Army, but a lot of them died. I don't think he's taken those loses well, but the war is so fast paced and he is so busy with work he doesn't have time to dwell on it."

"He'll have plenty of time when the war is over," said Sawachika dully, but an undertone suggested she was more concerned than she sounded.

"Why can't you admit you care," said Yakumo annoyed sounding as close to angry as she ever got in her life. She was never openly angry before, but something about Sawachika pushed Yakumo's buttons. It was the fact that Sawachika was so much more confident and stronger than Yakumo, but too cowardly to admit she loved Harima even to herself. Yakumo had confessed to Harima. It took her a long time, but she'd done it.

"Something I just couldn't do," said Sawachika with a small sad smile. "But if you really want to hear it, I do care about Harima-kun."

"Why aren't you fighting me for him?" Yakumo asked. Sawachika never gave up without a fight.

Sawachika looked at her feet. "We went our separate ways. I went to college and he went to war. I would have gone if they let me, but the Japanese won't take me because they are worried on how the British would react if I got killed or captured. My family won't let me join Her Majesty's Army either. I guess the only thing stopping you is your age, ne?"

"I can't say the military appeals to me at this point," said Yakumo after seeing the small Shinto style shrine Harima and Mai had in their rooms dedicated to their fallen friends. It was a life style that may be for some, but Yakumo didn't think it was for her.

"I understand that," nodded Sawachika.

"You still haven't really answered my question."

"… he never contacted me. It hurt, but than again after are school life together I can't blame him. I've cut off his beard, I shaved him, I threatened to humiliated him, I've terrorized him… all because I couldn't be honest with him. I realized he was probably relieved to be rid of me. In the end I decided to move on."

"So you're seeing someone else then," said Yakumo shrewdly in such a perceptive way that would make Takano Akira very proud of her star pupil.

"Hai," she said slowly.

"Nice guy?"

"Hai. He's from Germany. He's trying to get a medical degree and was here to see what Japan's innovations in the field of neuroscience are."

"You happy?"

"Very."

"You still like Kenji-san?"

"I don't think I'll ever stop, but I can't live in the past. Either way Yakumo, it's over," she said turning to face Yakumo and holding out her hand. "Friends?"

Yakumo gave Sawachika her usual small sweat smile and nodded, "Friends."

Their little war of over two years was over.

* * *

**1000 Hours; November 3****rd****, 2010; NATO Base, Taegu; Teagu Special Administrative Province, Republic of Korea**

Harima was wiping his sidearm with a rag absentmindedly. He was still thinking over his discussion with his mother yesterday. He hadn't seen her in nearly three years. She was overwhelming and smothered him half the time, but she always was there. He'd forgotten that still had a family.

Harima Kaori knew her son didn't want handouts and said so, but she didn't see why he couldn't visit her once in a while. He promised to visit home after the war. Another thing on his 'to do list': survive the war, visit home, make enough money to put Mai through high school at the least, finish manga series, get an anime based off my one of Yakumo and my mangas…

He thought hard about yesterday. He liked Yakumo. He knew it. He might even love her… he still wasn't sure, but his mother sure helped speed up the process. She was right, he cared about her and he needed think to what extent he cared.

He looked at himself in the mirror again. He didn't even recognize himself as the idiot who was drafted and showed up for basic training six and a half months ago. It felt so much longer, but it was April 5 when the North Koreans started the war, April 9 when he was drafted, April 11 when he showed up to training, May 7 when the Chinese attacked Japanese ships and drew both nations into the war, and May 17 when he first landed in Korea and first entered battle. So much had changed and he was someone else now. He looked at himself hard. He didn't like why he was this way, but in some twisted way he was a better person. He had better values, he wasn't picking fights, he was responsible, and he had discipline.

He'd changed so much, but despite the many darker changes that had come such as paranoia, nightmares, and difficulty in the normal world, Yakumo still loved him. She knew what she was getting into because she was always at his side and he made no attempt to hide it from her. She was the one constant in his life and it was comforting to know she was there. He'd always be grateful for that.

He looked at the letter she sent one more. There was nothing there he hadn't already read. In fact he'd memorized it by now. She was special to him…

"Shit," he laughed, "I think I do love her."

'Where do I go from here?' he wondered. He shook his head. He knew where he had to go. He had to go back to his home. The place he belonged with Mai, Tenma, and Yakumo.

* * *

Well that was another long chapter. I don't even like writing, but I am enjoying myself writing this story. I was a little disappointed that nobody review my last chapter, but maybe you guys didn't like it that much. I'm sure you guys will like this one, especially you ahgwa. I'm sorry that Sawachika Eri hadn't played a larger role in my story, but I kinda' forgot about her and after a while she just didn't have a place in my story for a long time. I tried my best to mix in a little action, romance, and comedy all in one chapter. I'm also trying to wrap some things up for the end of this story and the equal.

Next chapter I don't know what will happen… well maybe I do. I might go with Nara as the main focus, but other characters points of view will be mentions throughout the next chapter.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. Fleet Master Chief Petty Officer is the second highest non-commissioned officer rank in the United States Navy (similar rank in the actual Japanese Self-Defense Maritime Forces). There are few of them and they serve as aides to leaders of a fleet. There is also Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy who is the personal aide to the Chief of the Navy on the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States Armed Forces.

2. It said be noted that daijōbu is a word that is use to inquire a person's physical or metal wellbeing. 'Ka' is a question particle that usually follows 'desu' which is a Japanese word for 'to be', roughly the equivalent of the word 'is', but that's not an exact comparison. If you said 'daijōbu desu ka' that is asking you someone is okay, but if 'ka' isn't after 'desu' then the person is saying they are okay. It's a statement not a question. Japanese grammar is hard.

3. The Sagami Sea is a sea that Tokyo Bay opens into. It has the Shizuoka Prefecture on its west, Kanagawa Prefecture on its north, Chiba Prefecture on its east, and the Pacific Ocean on its south. The Sagami River flows into the Sagami Sea on its north. Tokyo Bay flows into the Sagami Sea on its northeast. Ships bound for Tokyo, Yokohama, Chiba, Yokosuka, and other ports on Tokyo Bay have to go through Sagami Sea.

4. Tennouji Mio is a character that appears only once in the anime School Rumble as far as I can remember, she may have appeared more in the manga, but I wouldn't know because my local book stores don't have any volume past book three (damn them). She is shy. In the one episode she appears in she meets Yakumo who she idealizes and wishes to become like her. Mio also has a crush on Harima Shuuji, younger brother of Harima Kenji, who only appears three or four times. Mio seems to be nothing like her brother, but just looking at her picture says that.

5. Millisecond is a one millionth of a second. Milli is a prefix for a millionth like in millimeter, millionth of a meter.

6. Harima Shuuji is a character that has appeared a couple of times in the anime and manga. He is not immediately introduced as Harima Kenji's little brother though. Shuuji apparently visits his big brother occasionally. The two don't appear to be overly close, but they do get along quite well and enjoy each others company. Shuuji has a crush on Tsukamoto Yakumo. He also gets into several shouting matches with Tsukamoto Tenma, but they do appear to be friends after a little. He also seems to have feelings for Tennouji Mio, but nothing has been confirmed about that.

7. Amaterasu is the Japanese goddess of the sun. According to Japanese mythology Amaterasu sent her grandson, Ninigi-no-Mikoto, to pacify Japan which was in turmoil. Ninigi-no-Mikoto's grandson, Jimmu, is supposed to be the first Emperor of Japan and the founder of the Imperial Bloodline. All Japanese Emperors and Empresses are connected to Jimmu-Tennō.

8. If you have seen the 2nd season of School Rumble you'll remember that Harima was locked out of Itoko's Apartment during Winter Break. He worked for the Mikoto's family during this time while staying their dojo. He combed his hair forwards as opposed to having it slicked back like it usually is.


	53. Chapter 53: Capitol Skies

Well, there is a new President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev. He is a former lawyer and former CEO of the Russian state run oil/natural gas company, Gazprom. Medvedev will be the first corporate businessman to rule Russia. What does the future hold? I wrote my thesis about this and I don't even know. Eastern Europe is very unpredictable, but Medvedev as a businessman will doubtlessly have plans for the Russian economy.

I've finished Red Storm Rising and now I'm reading Clancy's first book The Hunt for Red October.

I really don't have much to say about this chapter. Just sorry about the wait and read it, please. Also this story has received over 5,000 hits, thanks ya'll.

Thank you to TwinRivers for your review. Bob, the review page for is not a message board, please only use it for questions or comments about this story.

I don't own any trademarked or copywrite item. Please review and/or tell a friend.

* * *

**Chapter 53: Capitol Skies**

"Focus. Control. Conviction. Resolve. A true ace lacks none of these attributes. Nothing can deter you from the task at hand except your own fears. This is your sky."

A quote from Ace Combat 5: Unsung War

**1600 Hours; ****November 4****th****, 2010; Sŏsan Air Base, Sŏsan; Ch'ungnam Province, Republic of Korea**

Sŏsan Air Base was a RoKAF base finished only a year before the war. It was a credit to the British Royal Airborne Infantry skills that they had seized the base in tacked with the runway undamaged.

A lot of the planes on base weren't RoKAF because most of them had been shot down by the PLAAF pretty early on in the war. The surviving South Korean squadron was made up of true professionals. They flew the old, but nimble, F-16C Fighting Falcon. Currently they were assigned to protecting Sŏsan AB.

1st Lieutenant Nara Kentaro was strolling down the corridor to the briefing room. Nara's fourth section leader, 1st Lt. Kenichi, was transferred to shore up the inexperience squadrons and Nara was now made an element leader. The air war had been aggressive and many of the pilots who started at the beginning of the war were dead or trying to train new recruits. Nara was surprised to find out he was among the most experienced aces in the Federal Air Forces. He was now supposed to break in new pilots as they entered active squadrons.

Nara was now responsible for 2nd Lieutenant Kugashi Nobuyuki, son of General Kugashi Toshi, the Chief of Staff of the Federal Army. Kugashi was eager to learn and a good listener. This made him easy to teach. The problem was he had too little flight time under his belt and his lack of experience and training meant Nara had to go over the basics from the moment Kugashi arrived.

"Now you have to remember to be careful about engaging some of the Chinese planes," said Nara was answering some of Kugashi's questions as they walked to the briefing room. "The J-10 you have to watch out for because they look a lot alike our F-2s and the F-16s that are so common in NATO. So, if you don't watch out you may be shooting at our own planes."

Kugashi nodded and asked, "What about the J-11?"

"The J-11 is a Chinese version of the Su-27s. There is the J-11 the original version that wasn't produced in large numbers. The J-11A was an upgraded model meant to be an escort and interceptor. J-11B was a multirole version. The J-11BS was a two-seater which was based off the Su-30; it's like the Americans F-15E, it's a strike fighter. There is an upgraded version they came out with of the J-11BS, but the PLAAF have the Su-30 which is supposed to better. The last known model was the J-11C which is carrier-based fighter based on the Soviet Navy's Su-33. The J-11s are indeed a dangerous breed of fighters. The Su-27 Flanker can out climb the F-15C and J. The J-11 is the same so don't go into a vertical dogfight with them, or you will die," said Nara recalling his experience with them.

"Okay…" said Kugashi recalling what Nara had been telling him for the past few days. "The J-7 and the J-8 are the common fighters. The J-10 is supposed to be their new mainstay fighter. And the J-11 is there new advance fighter."

"Correct. There is also the J-12, a stealth fighter the Chinese are working on, but it's still in development."

"The PLAAF, like the Soviets, don't follow the same air tactics as NATO does. They don't use the finger-four flights that NATO adopted (1). Instead they use a tri-section formation which has one section leader and two wingmen. The lead plane, like with us, will be their best pilot. Remember, this will be someone who can dogfight while giving orders to two other pilots."

'Not an easy skill,' thought Kugashi. He'd only flown in a few simulated air battles, but he knew even from that how easy it was to loss track of things at Mach 1.

Kugashi's father knew he couldn't keep his son off the battlefield and had therefore requested that Chief of Staff of the Federal Air Force, General Takahashi Mondo, assign his son to an elite ace to show him the ropes. Nara was only promoted because of this, but from the week Kugashi spent with Lt. Nara, he thought Nara should be a flight lead.

They entered the briefing room and sat down. After another 15 minutes, Command Chief Master Sergeant (CCM) Tokimi Yamato, aide to Brigadier General Towayashi, walked into the briefing platform.

"Ladies and gentlemen, General Towayashi is currently laid up with a cold and was unable to join us today. I do however, have his orders," said CCM Tokimi holding up a disk. He put it in a console and turned on the screen behind him. "This is Operation: November Skies. It is a daring large scale air operation to seize control of the skies over the Kyŏnggi Province, namely Seoul and Incheon's airspace."

The screen changed to show the Special Capitol Administrative Region which included Seoul and Incheon. Small red radar dishes and SAM launchers appeared on the map. Rings showed the radar coverage zones.

"As you can see the enemy has a major air defense zone consisting of SAMs. Wild Weasels have been picking away at their defenses and we have mostly safe passage over the province, but not over Seoul or Incheon. We won't be able to get close to enemy defenses at this time."

The screen then zoomed in on a city 35km south of Seoul called Osan.

"Before we can start November Skies, we need to strike at Osan. Osan is a pretty large city as you can see, but what the Americans really want is Osan Air Base, which was the headquarters of their 7th Air Force. It was a base that they used to sortie their A-10s and the last of their F-16s. The US 7th Air Force says they managed to withdraw their Thunderbolts and their Eagles and what planes they couldn't take they destroyed. Satellite photos show JH-7A Flounders, the same ones that attacked our friends in the Navy. These planes belong to the PLANAF, but they could easily be fitted for ground-attack sorties.

The plan is for White Fox Squadron to draw out their interceptors which appear to be J-8s and J-7s. If they don't move to intercept then will use Wild Weasels to attack this radar site and nullify 70 percent of their efficiency. Then the F-1s will burn them on the taxiways. The rules of engagement clearly state you must not attack planes on the runway."

"What if they launch their elite pilots from Kimpo?" asked Major Tsumoto.

"White Fox is to intercept any and all bandits."

Kugashi followed Nara out of the briefing room shortly after it had concluded. The two men shared a small room near their hangers. The attack wouldn't start for 42 hours so they were to learn their mission in the mean time and get so sleep.

Kugashi sat down at a desk. There were two desk, presumably for the two residence. There was also bunk bed. Aside from a clock that told the time, temperature, date, and day of the week, and an AP speaker, there wasn't much in this room.

"Who are they?" asked Kugashi looking at the one photograph Nara carried with him.

"Tea Club, I was a member."

"Why?" asked Kugashi who couldn't even imagine what a tea club would do with their time… well aside from the obvious.

"The president of the club was my best friend," he said simply.

"Which one?" asked Kugashi who was a little curious as to what an ace like Nara was like or where he came from.

Nara pointed to a stoic girl with short dark reddish-purple and sharp violet eyes. She was… kinda' of intimidating looking, but not unattractive. She was not Kugashi's type, but maybe Lt. Nara's?

Kugashi didn't ask. It wasn't his place.

"So, is it hard being a general's son?" asked Nara.

"A little. Oto-san was hoping I would go for a desk job like quartermaster, but my friends were going to fight and I didn't want to be a coward."

"So you joined the Air Force hoping he couldn't interfere. Not a bad idea," said Nara with approval that people still wanted join the Air Force in spite of the death toll.

"Arigato, sir, but it didn't really work. I was told I was going to be babysat, by an ace so I would be safe," said Kugashi.

"Well, I'm not here to baby you, but I will try to keep you alive. Once in the air you need to watch your follow pilots' backs. No matter who they are, you watch over them and they will do the same for you. It isn't like in the movies, that's the first reality you learn in a dogfight. Team work is what will keep you from dying like my first three section leaders."

Kugashi gulped. He knew the Federal Air Force had a hard fight from day one, but Lt. Nara really made it real for him. Nara patted him on the shoulder.

"Just follow my lead and I'll keep you alive."

Nara decided to walk down to the cafeteria. He got some green tea. It was strong and bitter, but it woke him up and didn't put him on edge like coffee. This kind of knowledge of tea was something he was grateful he learned while in the Tea Club. Flying a plane faster than the speed of sound was hard enough to do without feeling jumpy from too much caffeine. One sudden twitch could send him into the ground.

Nara looked at his tea. He wondered where Takano Akira was. He left a few notes for the special forces to send on to her, but he never heard back. Nara wondered if Takano was even alive. It wasn't like they'd tell him. Why would they? He was just a pilot. He read over a letter from his Uncle Tsubaki, a company CO in the 27th Infantry Battalion.

'Dear Kentaro,

I have some down time at Teagu. Your friends in E Company are still alive and well. I actually met one of your friend's mother. She shows up in my office and boy was she a handful. I kinda' felt sorry for Cpt. Hitsugaya when I sent her over to him, but Pvt. Harima ain't in D Company.'

Nara paused. He didn't know Harima had a mother… well he naturally had to have one, but he never mentioned his mother or father. Nara wondered why Harima's mother was there… or how she managed to get to their base in Teagu.

'She was well dress. Businesswoman of some kind. Anyways, we've been helping with the reconstruction of the city. Division's got to keep us busy and it's not like we're doing anything. I hope you like your new promotion. Take care of yourself and write soon.

Sincerely, your uncle

Cpt. Nara Tsubaki'

Nara was a little surprised. It was strange that Harima never mentioned any of this. Harima always seemed strapped for money so why didn't he ask his mother for help? Nara shook his head. Harima was stubborn and he liked to earn what he got. It was one of his best qualities and something Nara had tried to learn.

Nara finished his tea and left.

* * *

**1700 ****Hours; November 4****th****, 2010; German Supercarrier Prussian, 20km off the coast of Anhŭng; Yellow Sea, Republic of Korea**

Anhŭng was a small port city 30km away from Sŏsan. A couple of German Sachsen Class frigates were patrolling the surface. The Sachsen Class was actually larger than the Lütjens Class destroyers they replaced. They were keeping guard for the carrier Prussian, but also they were keeping an eye a couple of NATO submarines. They knew that underneath the German squadron were four of their Type 212 Class unterseeboot (underwater boat), or U-boats are they were popularly known by the Americans.

The German officers were also told that a British Vanguard Class ballistic missile submarine and an American Ohio Class ballistic missile submarine were under them with a couple of other subs.

A British Royal Navy Trafalgar Class nuclear-powered attack submarine surfaced after a Japanese Federal Navy Oyashio Class diesel-electric powered attack submarine submerged. Under the cover of darkness the Germans were re-supplying the subs. They also had some electronic warfare ships equipped with lasers that could disable or interfere with recon satellites by shooting a beam into the camera lens. The laser didn't do any physical damage to the satellites, but they could ruin the equipment for focusing.

Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral) Heinz Dönitz, commander of the German North Atlantic Squadron, was watching as an auxiliary ship loaded diesel fuel into his U-boats. This was a real credit to Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (2) skills. These new Type 212 Class diesel-electric boats were able to run their diesel motors while submerged. Normally the diesel fumes would make the crews sick, but WDH found a way to deal with the fumes. Although diesel boats had a limit to their range unlike their American and British nuclear-powered counter-parts, they were much quieter. The Type 212 Class was believed to be the quietest submarines in the world.

'Deutschland's craftsmanship is finest,' Konteradmiral Dönitz thought proudly. Some trouble had emerged in Dönitz's early days in the Marine because he had the same family name as Karl Dönitz, former head of the Kreigsmarine and the Führer of Nazi Germany for roughly a week. This was purely coincidence because he wasn't related to Führer Dönitz and he had no connection to the bastards that ruled the Fatherland during World War II.

He was a proud soldier of the Bundesrepublik (Federal Republic). True Germans had no love for Nazis or Communists. He still remembered the oath he proudly took with the rest of his class at Marineschule Mürwik (Naval Acadmey Mürwik): "Ich schwöre, der Bundesrepublik Deutschland treu zu dienen, und das Recht und die Freiheit des deutschen Volkes tapfer zu verteidigen, so wahr mir Gott helfe."

That translated into: I swear to serve faithfully the Federal Republic of Germany and to defend bravely the right and the freedom of the German people, so help me God.

"Herr Admiral," said an oberstabsbootsmann. "The Prussian is ready for sortie."

"Danke, bitte (please) keep me updated," he said.

Dönitz picked up a hard-line phone and called a Prussian, "Hallo? Kellerman, we begin operations as scheduled. Make sure we finish re-supply operations with our allies. Und (and) Kapitan, make sure all your ships are ready for anti-air operations. If the Japanese do not stop the Flounders from launching, then they will come for us when we attack, klar (clear)? Gute (good)."

The Frankfurt am Main Berlin Class replenishing ship, the largest of its kind in the world, was finishing the re-supply operation. Once that was done he would move his squadron up to the coastline and move his carrier into position.

Unbeknownst to Dönitz, the USS Tuatha de Danaan was hiding next to a point where the underwater current was flowing past a wrecked ship. The nuclear-powered attack submarines USS Virginia and USS Texas and the nuclear-powered ballistic submarine USS Michigan were ferrying supplies to the sub. A KSK agent on the Deutsche Marine replenishing ship Frankfurt am Main was making sure no questions were being asked.

Colonel Shinhachi was reading The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy that Emma had mailed to him. Shinhachi couldn't help but find the coincidence that he was on a rough American equivalent of the fiction Soviet boomer submarine Krasniy Oktyabr (Red October).

There was a knock at the door and Master Sergeant Takano entered the room and saluted her commanding officer.

"May I help you, Master Sergeant?" asked Shinhachi putting down his novel.

"Sir, I was wondering where Major Bynes is," she said curtly. Shinhachi knew she had no reason to need to speak with his head of air operations.

"Why?"

Takano wondered whether to tell her CO or not. Shinhachi was the smartest man she'd ever faced and he was taught to outthink Soviet spies.

"I wanted to know who would be attack Osan AB, sir."

"Personal reasons?" asked Shinhachi probing for answers.

"Yes, sir."

"Anybody, in particular?" he asked. He saw a small reaction and he knew there was a friend or boyfriend she was looking for. "Japanese have multiple squadrons, what's the pilot's name?"

"… Nara Kentaro."

Shinhachi entered the name into a database and came up with 1st Lt. Nara's file. Technically, Shinhachi wasn't supposed to be able to access Japanese records, but that didn't stop his hackers. "Your friend was just promoted to 1st Lieutenant. He will be in the attack to draw out and destroy the enemy interceptors. He seems to be an accomplished pilot and on par with some of my country's best."

"Has he written to me?" she asked trying not to show she was worried he'd answer no. Takano knew that if anybody could answer that, it would be Colonel Shinhachi.

"Yes, I have 5 letter, but there is a note stating your military was unable to locate you and they are currently in holding until such time they can contact you."

"Can I send for them?"

"Negative," said Shinhachi frowning. "We can't risk revealing our position for something so petty. Sorry, but a few personal letters vs. a multi-billion dollar submarine and some of the best soldiers I could get my hands on… you understand, right?"

"Can I send a letter?" Takano asked, knowing that sending a message would easier than receiving one with minimal risk.

Shinhachi considered that. He wanted to help, but he had to consider the risk. "No promises, but write it out and I'll see if I can send it through my channels, but I will want something in return. I can't risk and won't a transmission without getting some real work done."

"Thank you, sir," said Takano with a low bow. "What would you like to know?"

"You know people in Naichō, right?"

"Yes, sir," she answered uneasily.

"You got people in Beijing?"

"One that I know of."

"You will tell me where this agent is and how to contact this agent."

"May I ask why?"

"The People's Liberation Army does not consider Japan a great risk. Even if they know of your agent they won't expect much from that agent. And I need someone who won't be under major scrutiny for an exchange."

* * *

**2045 Hours; November 4****th****, 2010; Office of Lt. General Bradley Newsome, Pusan; South Gyeongsang, Republic of Korea**

Lt. General Newsome, second in command of the US 8th Army and commander of the X Corps, was reviewing a report of readiness for the coming air campaign.

The pre-campaign stages would be led by the Japanese Federal Air Force and he was hoping the Japanese pilots will be able to eliminate the Flounders on the ground or the German's naval squadron would be toast. The Germans were going to destroy attack a substation near Osan. After that they would move up the coast and attack supply depots near Incheon to starve the PLA.

If the Japanese managed to not destroy the runways then his friend Lt. General Melissa Collins, commander of the 7th Air Force, would have her HQ back and could launch attacks on the sea lanes to Incheon with little opposition.

Once the Chinese at Osan AB were taken care of, the US 54th Infantry Division and 12th Armor Division would surge across Ch'ungnam-Kyŏnggi Provinces border. B-52s would hit the PLA and KPA lines to blast a path for the US Army.

In their wake, the British, French, Dutch, Belgians, Japanese, and South Koreans would follow the US through the breach. While the Americans seized their air base, the other NATO units would spread out and exploit the break out to its max. Intelligence coming from someone called Piney Creek said there would be heavy ground opposition which would not allow them to drive all the way to Seoul.

'If we have Osan and keep the commies from attacking it, then it's over for them.'

Better yet. The intel on Osan showed the PLA didn't even realize how important the base was to the USAF. It wasn't too surprising though. With the III Marine Expeditionary Force (3) and the South Korean 2nd Army approaching there more vulnerable eastern flank, the PLA had to expect the main assault there.

In reality, the 2nd Army and III MEF were going to establish a stable front. The rest of the NATO Coalition would push from the south and southeast. It would be a vice and the southern and southeastern groups would be the moving part.

Even if they couldn't take Osan, nullifying it would leave a clear air corridor for NATO planes coming in from the south. Newsome's one major concern was that if they advanced too quickly the chain of command and organization would be lost.

* * *

**0600 Hours; November 7****th****, 2010; Sŏsan Air Force Base, Sŏsan; Ch'ungnam Province, Republic of Korea**

"You nervous?" asked Nara.

"A little," said Kugashi. "Were you scared on your first battle?"

"Not as scared as I should have been," laughed Nara. "They didn't tell me that half our squadron would be wiped out after a 4 minute dogfight."

"4 minutes is pretty long for a dogfight," pointed out Kugashi.

"It only lasted that long because we had US Navy Top Guns backing us up and engaging the Chinese aces."

They were walking down the tarmac to their F-15J Eagles with their flight helmets tucked under their arms. Two AIM-9 Sidewinders were mounted on each wing. Four AIM-120 AMRAAM Slammers missiles were underneath the fuselage. Two more Slammers were added in the spot where the external conformal fuel tanks were normally attached. Even without the extra fuel the Eagles had over 3,000km range and Osan was roughly 75km away from Sŏsan. The ground crews thought it would be better to add extra munitions since they wouldn't need the range.

Kugashi was breathing hard. Nara patted him on back. "Remember: never fight a dogfight on their terms. Make them fight on yours."

Kugashi watched as Nara went over to the mechanics. He knew what Lt. Nara meant. The Chinese would try to weed out the weaker pilots and separate them from the group. They would try to get him to fight under conditions their planes were better designed for. Any smart fighter pilot who wanted to live would try to do the same. Problem was that skilled pilots wouldn't make these traps obvious until it was too late.

Kugashi climbed into the F-15J. He'd only flown the F-15DJ two-seater training Eagle before, but never the Mitsubishi F-15J single-seat Eagle. The two planes weren't too different, but it was a little less cramped without the instructor in a separate cockpit behind the pilot. This F-15J was also faster and more maneuverable without the weight of a second cockpit and its equipment.

A man in an olive drab uniform, bright orange ground-controller vest, blue heavy duty ear-mufflers to protect his ears from extreme decibels created by the jet engines, and phosphorescent red signal paddles in hand. He waved Nara forward. He then sidestepped out of Nara's way and waved Kugashi forward. Kugashi followed his section leader down the taxiway.

Flight 1 of White Fox Squadron roared down the runway. Flight 2 waited a few seconds. When an airplane takes off it leaves violent air currents in its wake. It was standard procedure for both commercial and military planes to pause for these currents to die down a little.

The tower gave them clearance to take off and they accelerated. Gently, Captain Oneishi pulled back on his stick and the plane lifted off. 2nd Lt. Hyodo followed on his left. 1st Lt. Nara, now in the number three position, was close on Oneishi's left level with Hyodo. 2nd Lt. Kugashi was on Nara's left trailing a little so that the four planes formed a sort of V.

The 16 Eagles that made up 201st Fighter Squadron flew with the 202nd and 197th Fighter-Bomber Squadrons' F-1s. The 2nd Counter-Radar/SAM Squadron, a kind of pilots known as the Wild Weasels, was flying their F-4EJ Phantoms low over the ground. The F-15Js and F-1s were flying high at 4,000m (13,123.5ft) and the Phantoms low at 1,000m (3,280.9ft).

The Weasels were flying further ahead of the main group. They were going to wipe out the main radar station 8km southwest of Osan.

"Red Weasel Leader, this is Red Weasel 1-4, I've got search radars coming in from north, about 5 klicks, over."

"Hai, I've got it too. That'll be the radar site, out," said Red Weasel 1-1. The enemy radar went on to fully active, a bad mistake they would pay for.

"Fire!" shouted Red Weasel Leader. HARMs dropped from their hardpoints and their engines ignited after they got clear from their planes. Phantoms turned back and headed east. If the enemy's triple-A threats and SAMs still tried to put up a fight they would hunt them down individually.

An E-767 AWACS was monitoring the skies over the Kyŏnggi Province. The operators on board were watching the air activity of nearly all the Chinese and North Koreans in the province, but their main concern was Osan. One of the crewmen saw blips appear on his screen. A second later, they identified the planes as J-8 Finbacks and J-7, loosely known as the Airguards. They counted one squadron of J-8s and two of the J-7s.

Nara heard the alert come from their AWACS. A Chinese, North Korean, and Soviet squadron was slightly larger than a NATO squadron. They had three planes per section, six to nine per flight, and eighteen to twenty-four per squadron. NATO squadrons were normally sixteen to twenty planes and they sections only had two planes. Everyone was processing the odds of being outnumbered roughly four to one. The Finbacks and Airguards were piloted less skilled PLAAF pilots or Category-B pilots.

'Baka,' thought Nara when he saw a series of flashes on the horizon. The morning sun still rising in the east was reflecting right off the cockpits of the incoming planes. White Fox, White Shepard, and Yellow Shepard Squadrons were flying slightly northeast to avoid this amateur and deadly mistake.

"This is White Fox 2-3, I saw flashes. Looks like 60 plus planes, all holding hands," reported Nara over the radio. Holding hands was a Brevity Code term that meant a formation of planes staying in close visual formation of each other. "Looks like they're in wall."

Each of the PLAAF sections were forming small three plane V formations and then each V was lined up next to each other making a 'wall'. Behind them was a second formation in the same set up. A third formation appeared to be more split up. That third group added a level of unpredictability to the engagement which Nara didn't like.

"This is White Fox Leader," said Major Tsumoto. "All White Fox callsigns fire Slammers when you have a lock and then break up with your flight leads. White Shepard and Yellow Shepard callsigns, stay clear. We'll cover you, out."

The tone started pulsing in Nara's ears. Kugashi's hands were shaking a little. He watched as the green targeting ridicules circled until it locked onto four J-8s. Kugashi armed two AIM-120 fully-active missiles lovingly named the 'Slammer' by the Americans. Fully-active air-to-air missiles, unlike semi-active, did not require a pilot to keep the target in his sights. A pilot merely had to shoot the missile and let it track the target on its own. Heat-seekers like the Sidewinder could do the same, but they were easier to lose and fool, and they had shorter range.

"Fox-Three!" shouted several pilots releasing a barrage of Slammers. Kugashi saw Nara break right. He followed trying to keep up with his section leader. The Chinese responded by firing their own missiles at the Eagles. The buzz of the missile siren was much louder and more terrifying than Kugashi had expected. His instincts were conflicted between bugging out and stick to Lt. Nara. He chose the latter.

"Okay… now!" shouted Nara dropping IR flares and turning into a tight high-G downward turn. Kugashi was plastered into his seat as he fought to stay with his flight lead. Green flashes streaked past his noise. He rolled as three J-7s tried to shoot him down with their guns. Kugashi looked over his shoulder briefly as rolled back behind Nara.

"This is no good. We can't stay on the defensive like this," said Nara. Nara saw a flight of J-7s closing on two Eagles. "Tally-oh!"

Nara swooped down on the J-7s with Kugashi following. Nara checked his mirrors and saw the Kugashi didn't have a clear shot. Nara rolled to the right, he didn't know if Kugashi knew that Sidewinders could lock onto friendly planes if they were in the way. Kugashi did in fact know the flaws of the AIM-7 and held his position seeing he now had a clear line of sights.

"Fire when ready 2-4," said Nara. "Fox-Two, Fox-Two."

Two AIM-7 Sidewinders zoomed off their hardpoints under the wings of Nara's F-15J. A section of J-7s broke off once they detected the incoming missiles. One missiles lost contact after the J-7s dropped flares. The second missiles exploded prematurely, but the shrapnel caught a wingman in his tail. A second later the pilot ejected. Kugashi fired a single Sidewinder which flew at the section leader. The section leader had decided to turn and engage Nara and Kugashi. He saw too late that a missile was coming at him and he was flying into its path.

"Splash-One," said Kugashi in shock seeing an airplane disintegrate in midair. It was a weird slightly detached feeling as though it wasn't real.

"Heads up!"

Finbacks pounced on them. Three aggressive pilots moved in hard and fast with the intent to kill. Nara and Kugashi had to split up for a moment to avoid being ripped apart. Kugashi saw one of the Finbacks trying to get behind him.

"On our six!" he shouted. Nara and Kugashi rolled into a high yo-yo which reduced their airspeed and avoided the Finback. Kugashi saw the J-8 pass low under him. He lowered his noise and fired a burst of 20mm rounds from his Eagle's M-61. The Finback wobbled and started trailing a little smoke, but it was still flying. As the Finback tried to head back a pilot from Flight 4 nailed him with a Sidewinder.

"Missile warning!" shouted someone. "Fuck their SAMs!"

A TY-90 short-ranged IR-homing SAM launcher on the ground had decided to activate its own back-up radar. Most Soviet and Chinese surface-to-air missiles relied on radar sites to give them an increased effective range, but most made since the 1970s had their own radars in case they didn't have supporting radars. The problem was it made the SAMs extremely easy to find and it had more limited range.

The Chinese on the ground were Category-B soldiers. Not regulars, but reservists of the People's Liberation Army. Had these men and women had been Category-A soldiers they may have known better than to fire heat-seeking missiles into the air where their own planes were.

"2-4, follow me," ordered Nara seeing some missiles locking onto them.

"Hai," responded Kugashi wondering what Lt. Nara had in mind. To his horror he saw Nara was flying straight at a flight of J-7s. Kugashi was starting to wonder now if it would have been better to take a desk job like his father wanted. 'Too late now.'

Nara dropped flares and jinked right with Kugashi following. Kugashi then realized that the IR missiles would fly straight for flares. The J-7s were also flying towards the flares too. Once the missiles passed through the cloud of false heat signatures they would reacquire on the first heat source immediately as all IR missiles would. Those poor bastards would be killed by their own side.

The Chinese commander at Osan watched as the last of the Flounders moved up the taxiway from the tarmac. He was pretty sure that NATO wanted to destroy the precious fighter-bomber. They would be transferred to Incheon where they could cover the supply convoys coming from the People's Republic. The old man heard the wail of the air raid sirens as Japanese F-1s started to spread out in an attack formation.

Type 87 towed anti-air guns started to rake the skies with their twin 25mm auto-cannons. The two Type-95 AA-vehicles were moving into position. They had four 25mm auto-cannons and four QW-2 SAM launchers. Deadly, but he had too few to make the difference.

**BOOM!**

A group of large planes flew out of nowhere. The unique angle of the wings and the odd shape of the fuselage were easily recognizable as an American design called the Phantom. The Chinese commander cursed seeing his Type-95s burning with his only three SAM launchers. The last 12 Flounders were scrambling to get away. The F-1s jumped them.

They only had two Sidewinders each mounted on the wingtips and no other air-to-air missiles. The commander of Yellow Shepard squadron cursed. The most of the Flounders had escaped and hit full afterburners heading north. They'd even dropped their munitions to lighten their load. They had only destroyed a single flight of them and the rest were probably long gone.

30km northwest of Osan were the Deutsche Marine Luftwaffe (German Navy Air Force). The EF-2008 Meer (Sea) Typhoon was the proud creation of Germany using the joint European Union fighter plane, the EF-2000 Typhoon. So far they along were using them, but Italy and Great Britain had expressed interest in them as a cheaper alternative to the F-35. They were a little smaller than their land-based counter-parts the Typhoon, and they had side-folding wings. The drawback was they couldn't carry as large a payload, but the Germans had extended the range of the Meer Typhoon and were using similar ideas in their Typhoons. The Typhoon's biggest weakness was its short range of 1,390km (846mi).

Their target was transformers of a power plant the Korean People's Army was using to supply power to their air defense systems, namely radar and SAMs. The leader of the small air wing (4) was not worried about the enemy. He'd faced off with Soviet trained pilots in Serbian Air Force during the Kosovo War and he was not the least bit scared of the People's Liberation Army Air Force. The weather was his concern. He lost several pilots and dear friends during blizzards in the treacherous mountains of the Balkans. The sky was already cloudy and snow was supposed to be coming south.

"Meer Jager (Sea Hunter) 2-1, to Meer Jager leader, over."

"Meer Jager leader, go ahead, over."

"Kommunist abfangjaeger geradeaus, mien herr (Communist interceptors ahead, sir)."

"Ja, ach so (Yes, I see). Angeschickt anstellen (Prepare to engage)."

"Jawohl, mien herr (At once, sir)!" responded the Marine Jagdgeschwader 1 (Naval Fighter Wing 1 or MJG 1).

A fighter squadron of MiG-19 Farmers raced eagerly to meet the enemy. These inexperienced pilots were hoping to achieve glory in the name of the Korea not knowing they were about to clash with elite German pilots who trained for years to fight the best of the Red Air Force.

"Idioten (idiots)," mutter the MJG 1 leader. 18 planes that, in the opinions of the Germans, belonged in a museum or a scrap heap were going down in flames. KPA anti-air crews wildly fired at the Meer Tornados. The German naval aviators circled and rolled to avoid the triple-A screen. One North Korean got lucky and struck a pilot with a 23mm round slaying him instantly.

The Germans were trying to be careful. This was a nuclear power plant. With limited land space and high demands for power by huge populations, nuclear energy was pretty common among countries like China, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea. The Germans were trying to get at the substations near the plant that controlled voltage and regulated the power grids. A couple of pods specially designed to emit a powerful electromagnetic pulse were mounted on the Meer Tornados hardpoints. The hard part was dropping them from a far enough distance that EMP didn't fry the German planes' systems with the substations.

"Abwurf bomben (dropping bombs)," said the Tornado pilots releasing their special payloads. "Zurueckfallen, schnell (fall back, now)!"

"Jawohl!"

The Marine Luftwaffe planes hit full afterburners and headed back for their carrier. The North Koreans were confused. The bombs didn't seem to cause any visible damage. Suddenly the power went out. This confused the North Koreans even more.

They had no idea that a months worth of repairs was ahead of them in sorting out the extensive internal damage caused by the EMP.

Nara was now circling over Osan Air Base with Kugashi. A couple of American MH-60G Pave Hawks flew in low and fast dropping 16 commandos on the ground. These were US Air Force Special Tactics, soldiers specially trained to take airfields and airbases. These spec ops soldiers would make sure the runway wouldn't be destroyed. Building could be easily replaced temporarily by specially equipped vehicles and tractor-trailer, but runways could take months to rebuild. An AH-64D Apache Longbow was providing gunship support for the commandos.

Nara could see by the green flumes of smoke from smoke grenades that they had things pretty well secured on the ground. Two USAF A-10 Thunderbolt-IIs flew over the base releasing a bunch of AGM-65 Mavericks. Nara was too high to see what they hit, but he saw several explosions where they hit 1km north of the base.

"Attention, fighter," called one of the Americans in passable Japanese. "We got a group of Hips approaching Osan from the south. Can you engage, over?"

"This is White Fox 2-3, copy that. Engaging, out," said Nara.

Nara dived in on five Mi-8 Hips bringing in company of North Korean base guards.

"Choppers are slower than you," said Nara to Kugashi. "You need to slow down or else you'll over shoot the target. You take the first pass."

"Got it," said Kugashi as Nara rolled to give him a clear shot. Kugashi waited until he was in gun range and then pulled the trigger on his stick. He kicked the rudder so he could fire a few bursts at the Hips. The lead Hips exploded, another one started to spin out of control, and a third one exploded. The second explosion sent a large chunk flying at Kugashi and forced him to break off his attack run.

"Three splashes, not bad, but don't get a big head. That's what happened to my first section leader," commented Nara. Nara swept through guns blazing. He shot down the remaining two Mi-8s.

* * *

**2130 Hours; November 7th, ****Sŏsan Air Force Base, Sŏsan; Ch'ungnam Province, Republic of Korea**

"Good news, bad news," said CCM Tokimi giving the pilots their debriefing. "The good news is the Americans have seized Osan AB. The bad news is that the KPA fired a barrage of rockets at Osan. The runway wasn't damaged and only a few planes were lost, but the reality is the USAF can't use Osan with it so close to the front and artillery range."

There were a few groans from the pilots of the 3rd Air Group. All that work and now this.

"I guess it was too easy," muttered Kugashi. Nara nodded in agreement.

"Operation: November Skies is now set for 1700 hours of the 9th."

Nara looked at the screen. The entire Japanese 1st Air Force was going to be mobilized over the course of the next two weeks in a continuous air campaign. The US 7th and 8th Air Forces, the British 29th Air Wing, the German Jagdgeschwader 74 (74th Fighter Wing), and several other air groups would be supporting. Dominate the skies over Seoul was their objective.

Seoul was the ancient and historical capitol of Korea and the current capitol of the Republic of Korea. It was the largest city in the RoK with over 10 million people in living the city. Two-thirds of the city was on the north side of the Han-gang (Han River) including the Republic of Korea Armed Forces HQ, the Republic of Korea National Assembly Building, and most of the national offices of the RoK. On the south bank was Seoul National Airport that served national flights in the RoK. About 7km west of Seoul was Kimp'o (Gimpo) International Airport, the second largest airport in South Korea and one of the busiest. 15km west of Seoul was Incheon, home to the second largest port in South Korea after Pusan and home of Incheon International Airport, largest in South Korea. The PLA in Korea had set up their HQ in Incheon and they were using Incheon International as they main airbase.

One of their orders was to stay above 2000m (6,561.7ft). The communist knew NATO fighter-bombers liked to come in low to avoid detection. They were ordered to kill anything flying under 2000m. This was a common tactic used by many nations, even NATO members. In modern warfare it was hard to ID one side's planes from the enemy. Commanders had the idea to order their planes to fly above a predetermined altitude and turn anything underneath into a killzone. If anybody flew into the killzone, they were dead men.

* * *

**1650 Hours; November 9****th****, 2010; Sihŭng, 4km south of Seoul; Kyŏnggi Province, Republic of Korea**

In retrospects, Operation: November Skies had one major flaw. There wasn't a clear chain of command. There were five AWACS of five different air forces now orbiting 15,000m above the Seoul National Capital Area. A couple of Lockheed-Martin F-22A Raptors were quietly flying as escorts for the AWACSs.

A couple of old Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers was flying around Sihŭng. Airborne refueling planes were here for some of the squadrons that were flying in from far away and the short range Typhoon. One air group of F-15E Strike Eagles and F-15G Super Eagles came in from Okinawa and one flight of B-1 Lancers strategic supersonic bombers that flown in from Anderson AFB in Guam, well over 5,000km away. The Japanese Federal Air Force also had two of their KC-767s up just in case their planes need them.

Nara looked enviously at the American pilots in the new F-15G. These planes were standard model but with latest systems. The American President had put a few cuts on military spending and the US Military was introducing improved version of their existing equipment instead of spending money on developing a new weapon for everybody. The Super Eagle when it was introduced in 2009 had new HUDs, better IFFs, the more powerful and longer range GAU-22/A 25mm gatling gun, and more efficient engines which gave it longer range. Also unlike the F-15C, and its Japanese variation the F-15J, the Super Eagles could out climb the Soviet Su-27 and its Chinese variation the J-11.

There were some rumors that the F-15G used the prototype guidance system that was integrated with the helmet that required a pilot to look a plane and it would target it. In theory a pilot could fire a missile at anything within a 180 degree radius with fully-active homing missiles like the AIM-54 Phoenix and AIM-120 Slammer.

"This is AWACS Eagle Eye," said the USAF E-3B Sentry. "We have an active search radar detected at Papa 51, Juliet 21. Looks like a PLAAF KJ-2000."

The KJ-2000 was a Chinese AWACS using a Soviet's Il-76 'Candid' transport plane and mounting a radar array on it. The Soviets had an identical version of their Candid as a cheaper alternative to a Berview A-50 'Mainstay'.

"This is AWACS Doku Gon Ryu," said the AWACS assigned to 1st Air Wing. "A Chinese AWACS had been reported by the American AWACS to be operating over Incheon International Airport. We have two Il-76s on radar. They are probably the tanker versions."

"2-3, what does this mean?" asked Kugashi.

"The Il-76 is only used as a tanker in the PLAAF. Incheon is so close they could practically walk here," exaggerated Nara. "Why though… fuck! They must be flying in squadron from the China."

"Doku Gon Ryu, here. All aircraft, 'Open Season'. AWACS, out."

The Japanese planes accelerated and climbed up to 3,200m (10,498.7ft). British and German EF-2000 Typhoons were also climbing to join the Japanese. Some French Mirage 2000-5s were already flying at 3,000m.

Tornados, Strike Eagles, Jaguars, and F-1s were climbing in from low altitudes where they were to avoid radar detection. Wild Weasels were already moving at treetop level along the Han River. They would try and create enough chaos to make openings for the fighter-bombers. They were trained to counter SAMs so the air defenses were something they could handle.

Meanwhile, Lt. General Melissa Collins was cursing under her breath as she listened to the AWACSs converse with each other. She was in her office in Osan despite her officers' advice. She wanted to be in her own office and nearby the front. She started making calls. An operation this large and hastily thrown together must have attracted Chinese spies' attention and warned their leaders ahead of time.

Major Tsumoto was leading his squadron along the Han River. White Fox Squadron was to keep an air corridor open for incoming and withdrawing planes.

Tracer rounds from AZP S-60 AA-guns and ZSU-57-2 AA-vehicles rose from the city. The NATO planes were well outside the range of the ZU-23s. A ZPU-4 could engage them, but NATO was pretty far outside the accurate range. With supporting radar, the S-60 and ZSU-57-2 could shot as far away as 6km. Lacking radar, they still had an effective range of 4km with optical sights.

"Ignore them," said Nara to Kugashi. "This high up, the KPA can't hit us. Keep an eye out for SAMs."

The SA-2 'Guideline', the SA-3 'Goa', and the SA-5 'Gammon' were the principle SAMs of the KPA. These were pretty old and crude systems that were better suited for shooting down bombers than fighters, but they still posed a threat.

"Should we be worried?"

"Always. The SAMs they use are extremely fast, but not maneuverable and they're easily fooled by our flares," assured Nara. "Don't fly low though. The KPA have the Gremlin and Gimlet, those shoulder launched SAMs are more advanced, but limited range."

"Rodger that, sir. Hey, I think I see something on radar."

An air group of Shenyang J-5s were flying at 2,400m above the Han River. The J-5 was a Chinese version of the MiG-17 Fresco, and the J-5 was sometimes called the Fresco since the two planes were basically the same, but made in different countries. Frescos, like the Farmers, were vastly outdated Soviet planes used by KPAF. The Fresco was the second jet-propelled fighter made by Mikoyan-Gurevich. It had a top speed 617kt (1144km/h or 710.8mph), which was slower than the speed of sound. It had one Nudelman N-37 37mm auto-cannon and two Nudelman-Rikhter NR-23 23mm auto-cannons. The Fresco was introduced in the Red Air Force in October 1952, long before guided missiles were commonly used in air battles and before missile warning systems were invented. The J-5 was introduced in 1956. North Korea was one of four countries that still used it for air-to-air battle.

"They can't be serious," said a female pilot sounding appalled that such an archaic fighter plane was being used in battle.

"They are," said Captain Oneishi shaking his head. "This is just sad. Don't waste your missiles on them and don't slip into their killzone."

Captain Oneishi, 2nd Lt. Hyodo, 1st Lt. Nara, and 2nd Lt. Kugashi dived on the Frescos. The unique cigar shaped planes climbed to engage the Eagles. The four Eagles fired a burst of 20mm rounds. The one thing the Frescos had over the Eagles was more powerful guns. The M-61 Vulcan's was reliable and had an overwhelming rate of fire, but short range and lost velocity much more quickly than their Soviet counter-parts. That was why the F-15G and F-35 featured the GAU-22/A 25mm galting gun.

The Frescos swarmed the Eagles in large groups. They tactic was too all get into fire positions and create of wall of 37mm rounds. It was a clever idea. The RN-37 was a single-barrel gun and lacked a high rate of fire, but it was powerful and had a long reach. Having multiple planes fire at once forced Flight 2 to break off their attack run.

"If we can get behind them, we'll sweep the skies clean," growled Oneishi. The Frescos all charged in at once which left their rear totally exposed.

"This is White Fox 3-1, 2-1 can you draw their attention while we clean house, over?"

"Hai, we got that, out."

The Frescos slower speed let them make much tighter turns than the Eagles so they were on Flight 2's six in no time. Flight 2 had to slow down or else the Frescos made go looking for new targets. Nara hated having his ass exposed for some KPAF conscript to use for target practice, but they had to be bait.

"Hang in there," said White Fox 4-1 who was joining Flight 3. A flight of F-2s were also sweeping in from above.

A green tracer zoomed passed Kugashi's cockpit. Nara heard the clang of a round making contact with his plane. He checked his instrument panel and his mirrors, but nothing major was visible.

Orange, yellow, and red flashes reflecting his Flight 2's rearview mirrors nearly blinded the four pilots as the 1st Generation Fighters exploded (5).

"You're clear."

"Arigato."

The KPAF was filling the skies with 1st and 2nd Generation Fighters. Farmers and Frescos were being annihilated by NATO whose planes were mostly 4th Generation. Nara accelerated as a SA-3 screeched across the sky at him. The outdated missile lost Nara after he dodged the Goa and pursued the sun instead like many older IR missiles had done before improved homing systems were introduced.

"Floggers!" shouted one of the F-1 pilots. The fighter-bombers were trying to attack their ground targets, but were taking heavy loses from triple-As and SAMs. Floggers were rare in North Korea. There were roughly four dozen Floggers in KPAF. Fishbeds were joining the fight too flying from Kimp'o. MiG-21PF Fishbed-D, as a 3rd Generation Fighter, was a descent plane. The KPAF had over a hundred of them in their air force and at least an air group of them was operating over Seoul.

"Go for the Flogger first," ordered Oneishi. Floggers and Fulcrums were only operated by the elite pilots. Fishbeds being in larger quantity were piloted by lesser skilled men. Frescos and Farmers were piloted by anybody idiot in the KPAF.

Nara and Kugashi moved in on a flight of Floggers. The three fighters broke up and raced up for the skies.

"Stay together, they want us to split up," said Nara. Kugashi was about to charge after the MiGs, but did as he was told. Two planes from Flight 4 split up and chased the Floggers. The section leader popped up behind one of the two Eagles and fired a missile at close range.

"Bastard," cursed Kugashi. He fired a Slammer at the Flogger as he tried to line up the second Eagle. The Flogger broke off his attack and dodged the Slammer. "Missile shot trashed."

"These guys ain't rookies."

"I can see that, sir."

Kugashi looked around. His eyes widened. Three Floggers were diving on top them. They'd turned off their targeting radars so they could sneak up close undetected. Nara lost hydraulics on his left wing. He struggled to get his plane clear.

Enraged that the KPAF pilots had damaged his superior's plane, he pursued the section of MiG-23s on his own.

He saw the MiGs accelerate for the ground. Kugashi followed. Nara switched to his auxiliary hydraulics and looked for his wingman. Kugashi couldn't get a fix on the Floggers. He saw the Floggers start to level out.

"Holy shit!" he screamed in horror. He cut his throttle and put on his airbrakes to reduce speed to make a hard turn. He flew straight into the Floggers pulling almost in formation with them. Kugashi and the section lead of the Floggers stared at each other a few seconds. Neither pilot could see the face of the other because the helmet, sun visor, and oxygen mask covered their entire heads. Kugashi was trying to figure out what to the do next. He nearly flew into the killzone of SAMs.

The missile siren blared in Kugashi's ear. He fallen into a second trap just like the one they'd did to the Frescos. One of the Floggers had slipped fallen behind and fired a missile. The Molniya R-60, or AA-8 Aphid as it was called by NATO, dropped off the MiG-23's hardpoint, but its engine didn't ignite at once. While the KPAF pilot cursed at the poor quality of his nation's munitions, Kugashi thanked whatever or whoever had saved his ass as he flew clear with this two second delay.

'Rethink the situation,' he thought desperately. He knew he wasn't supposed to engage in one-on-one dogfights, but now it was obvious that in numbers it was harder for the enemy to pick their targets.

Kugashi saw a flash of tracers in his rearview mirror, but they were red. The section leader's plane exploded. The pilot ejected safely and his wingmen retreated.

"SITREP," demanded Nara.

"Green," reported Kugashi knowing he was in trouble.

"Baka! Don't break off from me like that!"

"It won't happen again," said Kugashi sounding ashamed of himself.

Nara sighed. His wingman was alive and had managed to get himself out of a situation that had killed several more experienced pilots. "I've lost three section leads to enemy fire, 2-4. I'm sick of seeing so many pilots not come home because of their mistakes, out."

"Oi, Harold," said a British radar tech in the RAF's E-3D Sentry AWACS over Seoul. "Get a load of this."

A RAF flight sergeant, the British equivalent of a USAF master sergeant, leaned over to look at the screen. "Fast bastards, who are they?"

"Chinese, I've been tracking them since they were half way across the Yellow Sea. Strange thing is they didn't refuel at their tanker."

"Long range fighters, probably nothing," dismissed the flight sergeant.

"All the other Chinese refueled. I don't think they are J-11s or J-10s."

The flight sergeant frowned. "Granger, do a fully active scan on those bandits."

"Roger that, sir," said a second radar tech. "Shite.."

"What?"

"The computer says these are Su-30MKK Flanker-Gs and another group not identified."

The Flanker-G was a high performance two-seater strike fighter. It was like the USAF F-15E Strike Eagle. It was meant to use guided bombs and missiles to destroy ground targets and was still able to engage in air-to-air battle. They were one of the most technologically advance fighters made by the Soviets, and China had bought 76 of them. Although China was generally more computer savvy than the USSR, the Soviets were still making better planes and larger varieties of planes.

"We have leakers, coming in hot!" shouted AWACS Doku Gon Ryu warning of new incoming planes. "Flanker-Gs!"

Nara froze. He had never encountered the Flanker-G. It used in limited numbers. Nara had no idea what the pilots who flew them were like. German EF-2000s moved to intercept. The Typhoon like some of the recent planes had an ability called supercruise which meant a plane could fly at supersonic speeds without afterburners. Despite their short range, the EF-2000 was on of the best planes of 4.5th Generation NATO Fighters.

"Should we help?" asked Kugashi.

"Let the Germans take them. Their Typhoons can accelerate faster than our Eagles."

Nara saw the Germans fly in to attack the Flankers, but they were jumped by the unidentified squadron. Nara heard the confused and angry shouts from the German pilots as they were blown out of the sky.

"Who the fuck are they?" asked a dumbfounded Major Tsumoto. The Flanker-Gs tore through the fighter-bombers using long range fully-active missiles. They didn't stay though. Once they used their missiles, the Flanker-Gs headed back to China.

"This is AWACS Doku Gon Ryu, White Fox your relief is here. RTB. AWACS, out."

* * *

**2329 Hours; November 9****th****, 2010; USS Tuatha de Danaan, Yellow Sea; International Waters**

"So what do you think Mr. Shinhachi?" asked Captain Testarossa taking a sip of coffee out of a fine china tea cup.

"It wasn't a shitty beginning for an air campaign," said Colonel Shinhachi.

The two most senior officers on the Danaan were drinking coffee together in Shinhachi's office. Shinhachi's office was decorated much like any of his offices. It had several maps on the walls, a couple photos of the more legendary Delta Operators, satellite photos of Russian and Chinese bases, pictures of known Chinese and Soviet spies, and stats of PLA strength. On his desk was a bunch of books and files, a few personal photos, and plastic flag stand with an American flag, NATO flag, and a Washington State flag. It was simple and Testarossa suspected Shinhachi could pack up everything in under an hour.

"We should have had a clearer change of command for the operation," she agreed.

"You mean we should have had a change of command, Tess," corrected Shinhachi dryly.

Losing over 60 fighter-bombers was a nasty blow. Worse was an earthquake that struck the Taechŏn. Nobody could have stopped a 6.8 magnitude earthquake or that it had ruptured tracks along the Gyeongbu Line. This was the principle high speed express passenger rail line from Seoul to Pusan. The South Korean government had suspended passenger services on that line for the time being and was running supply trains. Now NATO would have to switch trains to more indirect routes.

"Our supply lines may get strained."

"Only by numbers of trucks and trains traveling on the same lines, not by distance. Korea isn't a big county."

"Who were those fighters, Mr. Shinhachi? You were a paratrooper. You should know planes better than a sub driver like me," said Captain Testarossa.

"4.5th Generation Soviet Fighters. They're either Su-35 Flanker-Es or Su-37 Flanker-F. These are high performance built in limited numbers and only used by the Red Air Force. The pilots were not probably Russian who were looking for a paycheck. With civil war on in the west, they don't have orders or monthly pay coming from Moscow."

"So the PLA offers them a couple thousand Yuan (6) and they get Soviet top guns," sighed Testarossa. "We can't attack Soviet planes, can we?"

"They withdrew to a base in China so they're enemy combatants, but we still don't have the authority to attack the PRC. This won't be a problem that warrants our involvement. They'll be more careful though. The Reds will know our pilots will expect them and some of our high performance air supremacy fighters will be waiting for them."

"So, the real issue is can our commanders organize the attack on Seoul," said Testarossa putting down her cup on its saucer.

"Precisely."

* * *

**0030 Hours; November 10****th****, 2010; ****Sŏsan Air Force Base, Sŏsan; Ch'ungnam Province, Republic of Korea**

Nara knew he should be sleeping, but with his plane under repairs he wouldn't be sortying tomorrow anyways. Blue Fox squadron would take up their role tomorrow. In the meantime, he was a very late diner in the cafeteria.

Kugashi was sleeping attentively in his bed, but Nara was up thinking. That had been one of the worst executed operations he'd ever been in. They had destroyed over 120 planes, but they were mostly 2nd Generation Fighters piloted by the least skilled pilots of the Korean People's Air Force. They'd destroyed 40 percent of the SAMs. NATO had lost nearly 105 planes. Most of them were fighter-bombers, but it would be a blow to NATO's strike capabilities.

'The Chinese would have to know we're coming if they're launching out of their home bases,' thought Nara. 'The PLAAF home bases their probably launching from are in the Shenyang Military Region Air Force north of the Yalu River and Jinan Military Region Air Force just south of the Beijing Military Region Air Force. Heh, they wouldn't remove planes from their capitol defense units.'

Nara looked at his meal. He was thinking about those enemy aces. They didn't fly like Chinese or North Korean pilots. The planes they flew weren't Chinese either. Were they Russians? Nara wasn't trained to fight Soviets. None of the pilots recruited since April were taught to engage the Red Air Force and the older pilots were not adequately trained either.

The Eagle should have the technology advantage, but these guys had the speed, acceleration, weight-to-thrust ratio, and climb rate advantages.

"Lieutenant, mail for you," said a NCO dropping a letter for Nara.

"Arigato," said Nara picking it up. 'Tokushu Sakusen Gun (Special Operations Group) (7)? Who do I know that's in…'

He tore the envelope open and read it the flash message from somewhere in the TSG.

'Nara, break. I'm alive, break. Cannot tell you where I am, break. Sorry I could not answer your previous letters, break. I never got them, break. They are being held somewhere because they could not reach me, break. I wish I could see you, break. I miss you, break. I will see you after the war, break. Promise, break. Akira, break.'

* * *

Finally done with this chapter. It was a bit messier then I intended, but I'm hoping to wrap things up. Next chapter probably won't center on one character.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. The finger-four is a flight formation used by NATO. Originally, the US Army Air Force and Royal Air Forced during World War II operated in groups of three with a section leader and two wingmen. In 1941 the Luftwaffe created a four plane flight with two two-plane elements. The idea was that the lead pilots were the best and the wingmen would learn from their section leader. The finger-four was so successful that by the Korean War the newly formed United States Air Force used the finger-four over the tri-section formation. The People's Liberation Army Air Force first learned air tactics from the Soviet Red Air Force who both used the tri-section formation.

2. Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (WDH) is a German shipbuilding company located in Kiel, Federal Republic of Germany. It is currently the largest shipbuilding company in Germany and they build all of the Deutsche Marine's submarines and a number of surface ships too. WDH also makes a variety of non-military ships too.

3. The United States Marine Corps is structured into Marine Expeditionary Forces (MEF). Each expeditionary force has one marine division, one marine air wing (division), and one marine logistical division. The division is the combat unit with one or more infantry regiments, mechanized infantry and armor regiments, artillery regiments, force recon battalions, amphibious assault specialists, and combat engineering battalions. The Air Wing would include roughly one group of F-18 Hornets, one group of AV-8 Harriers (soon to be replaced by the F-35B), one group of CH-53E Super Stallions, two groups of CH-46 Sea Knights (may be replaced by the V-22 Osprey) with AH-1W Huey Cobras (soon to be replaced by the AH-1Z Super Cobra), and one air control group with KC-130 refueling planes and UAVs and electronic warfare planes like the EA-6 Prowler. The logistical divisions have all the heavy support equipment like bridge building, runway repairs, and major engineering jobs. They also have control over supplies, medical units, and vehicle recovery. There are three MEFs, the largest the I Marine Expeditionary Force in the Western United States at Camp Pendleton, California. The II Marine Expeditionary Force is based in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The smallest is the III Marine Expeditionary Force based in Camp Courtney, Okinawa, Japan. There is technically a IV Expeditionary Force, but it is a reserve unit. There are autonomous units in the USMC, but the MEF are the main body.

4. The air force, or at least the USAF and USNAF, is broken up into as follows. A section/element is the basic formation with two planes led by a 1st Lieutenant or in the Navy a Lieutenant JG. A flight is two sections, meaning four planes and is led by a Captain or Lieutenant. A squadron is normally four flights or 16 planes led by a Major, Lieutenant Colonel, Lieutenant Commander, or Commander. A wing, the rough equivalent of a battalion, is three or more squadrons meaning about 48 planes led by a Colonel or Captain. A wing, the rough equivalent of a regiment, is three or more wings led by a Brigadier General or Rear Admiral JG. Above that is a number air force (i.e. the 8th Air Force) which has no official size other than being larger than a wing led by a Major General or Rear Admiral. A major command is also no official size and is basically a theater command led by a Lieutenant General or Vice Admiral. An air force would be all the planes in an air corps and it is led by a General. Naval Air units don't usually get larger than an air group.

5. 1st Generation Jet-Fighter refer to jet fighter planes made between 1944-1953 like the Messerschmitt Me 262, F-86 Saber, MiG-15 Faggot, and Gloster Meteor. 2nd Generation Fighters are planes made between 1953-1960 like the MiG-21 Fishbed and F-8 Crusader. 3rd Generation Fighters are planes made between 1960-1970 like the F-4 Phantom, MiG-21bis Fishbed, and MiG-23 Flogger. 4th Generation Fighters are planed made between 1970-1990 like the F-15 Eagle, F-18 Hornet, Su-27 Flanker, and MiG-29 Fulcrum. 4th and a half Generation Fighters are planes made between the gap between 4th and 5th Generation Fighters which would be 1990-2000 like the F-18E Super Hornet, Su-37 Flanker-F, and EF-2000 Typhoon. 5th Generation Fighters are planes made from 2000-present like the F-22 Raptor (only 5th Generation Fighter in service). The F-35 Lightening-II will be the second 5th Generation Fighter. Most 5th Generation Fighters are still in development.

6. The Yuan is the currency of the People's Republic of China.

7. The Tokushu Sakusen Gun (TSG) Special Operations Group is the Japanese Self-Defense Forces equivalent of the United States Special Operation Command. It is a relatively new unit activated March 27, 2004. It is commanded by a colonel and has 300 soldiers in it. Their HQ is in Narashino, Chiba Prefecture. The TSG is unconventional warfare unit who also serve as a counter-terrorism unit. They have been trained by Delta Operators. Their only known major deployment is four of their operators serving as bodyguards to the commander of the small Japanese unit in Iraq.


	54. Chapter 54: Ready or Not

Okay, I think I know how to end this story at last. Now, this story will still have a few more chapters, but there is finally an ending I can see. I apologize it took so long to get this chapter up, but I had some school work and I haven't felt much like writing lately. I still intend to finish this story and write a sequel.

I finally bought Rainbow Six: Vegas 2, it is one of the best first-person shooters I've played this year. They've made improvements from Rainbow Six: Vegas. They include more guns, but the game play is pretty much the same. The big thing is that now you can customize your appearance, choose gender, clothes, and body armor.

To Ominae: Thank you for another review. I didn't realize until you mentioned it that I had reversed the K and P in KPA. -sigh- Another detail I'll have to fix soon. I also have a question for you. When I complete this story and change the status from 'in-progress' to 'complete', am I still able to edit the current chapters?

I don't own any trademarked or copywrite item. Please review and/or tell a friend.

* * *

**Chapter 54: Ready or Not...**

"How do you tell a sailor from the Northern Fleet?

He glows in the dark."

A Soviet Navy joke about the large numbers of nuclear-powered surface ships and submarines in the Soviet Northern Fleet

**1100 Hours; November 9****th****, 2010; McDonalds, Ulaanbaatar Station; Ulaanbaatar, Mongolian People's Republic**

'These things really are everywhere,' thought Wen Shuengying who was sitting in one of millions of the McDonalds's fastfood restaurants. Shuengying was a captain in the People's Liberation Army Special Operations Forces (PLASOF). He was often doing field work for his superior Colonel General Cheung, the intelligence chief of the PLASOF. Because of his frequent absences for General Cheung, Shuenying would not be missed.

Captain Shuenying was not supposed to be here, but he wanted to know more about this 'Piney Creek'. Cheung had mentioned the Soviets had a file, but the old bastard was too proud to ask the Soviets for help. Shuengying didn't like the Soviets much, but he didn't see why they should limit the People's Army's knowledge and allow a security threat on the People's Republic.

A Slavic man walked into the McDonalds with a crowd. He ordered a meal from the brightly lit menu above the employees and walked to Shuengying with a tray of food. Shuengying didn't know this man, but he knew he was KGB.

"Comrade Shuengying?" asked the man in Russian.

"Da," said Shuengying in Russian.

Mongolia was disputed territory. Officially, it was an independent sovereign nation recognized by the United Nations and the world, but China and the Soviet Union treated it was part of their nations. The KGB and GRU used Mongolia to make deals with their Chinese counter-parts. It was considered neutral territory by covert agencies, but the Soviets had more control and influence in the Steps, as it was nicknamed. Not that China was overly concerned the Soviets control the most sparsely populated country in the world.

Ulaanbaatar Station was a major hub where trains would stop. This was roughly the middle of the Trans-Mongolian Railway. North bound trains would meet trains on the Trans-Siberian Railway at Ulan-Ude, Russia, and south bound trains would meet trains at Jining, China in the Chinese National Railway System.

His name was Lt. Colonel Konstantine Alexandrovich Tupolev, a First Directorate agent in the KGB (1). Tupolev was a burly looking man in his late 40s with a beard to keep his chin warm during the cold months in Russia. Shuengying was in his early 40s. He kept his black hair neat and his face cleanly shaven. Since China was not nearly as cold as Russia, the Chinese did not need beards to help keep their faces warm and they were not permitted among lower ranking soldiers. Tupolev had that crafty all-seeing that told nothing that many Russians seemed to have mastered where as Shuengying had an indifferent unreadable stare that was not uncommon among intelligence officers around the world.

"You look tire," said Shuengying.

"The Rodina (motherland) calls and I answer. Duty over luxuries," said the man quoting Party doctrine.

"We share those views in the People's Republic," said Shuengying asserting China was not un-forgetting of Communist ideology. Soviets seemed to think that since Chinese were willing to use Capitalism in their economy that they forget true Marxist-Communist Revolution. Admittedly, the People's Republic of China was not nearly as ideological as the USSR and thought the Revolution would never come to fruition, but they didn't disregard Communism… completely.

"I should hope not," Tupolev with a barking laugh not uncommon among the Soviets. It was the kind of loud laughter that sounded friendly and open, but made the hairs on the back of the net stand on end. The fact he was KGB made it even more disquieting, but Shuengying had spent years dealing with high Party Officials and showed no emotion.

"We have the payment ready," said Shuengying putting a laptop on the table. "Once I have the files I quested, 2 million Yuans will be sent to the account number you have mentioned before hand."

"Khorosho, ya voz'mu (Okay, I'll take it)," said Tupolev passing suitcase he'd been carrying to Shuengying. Tupolev knew the Chinese liked to get straight to business which suited the Soviet.

"Spa-see-ba (thank you)," said Shuengying accepting the suitcase.

"Nyet (no), spa-see-ba," said Tupolev knowing he would be set for years, or at least by his country's standards.

Shuengying opened the file while Tupolev ate a Big Mac. "These Americans sure know make good food out of shit and grease. If only the Ministry of Agriculture could do the same."

Shuengying smiled a little at the joke. It was funnier to the Chinese to point out how weak the Soviet's agricultural system was and China was able to feed one-sixth of the world population, which was roughly the entire population of China.

Paper clipped to the front page of the first file was a photograph of the agent known as Piney Creek.

"He's much younger than I expected," said Shuengying.

"He's 20, to be exact," said Tupolev with his mouth half-full. "You should try these French fries, they're amazing."

"20!" he whispered loudly in a rage. "A fucking 20 year old has masterminded this kind of destruction to the People's Army!"

"You should see the damage he's done to the Rodina. It's far more extensive," said Tuploev calmly in a matter-of-fact tone. "We believe he had a hand in the assassination of senior Party member of the Azerbaijan Communist Party. And that is merely scratching the surface, Comrade. We have him extracting a deserting KGB and GRU agent from Sarajevo. Then he really screwed over our agents in Afghanistan. He led a team of three including a Major Solomon and Captain Maiwald… those two files will cost extra."

"He's clever… devious," said Shuengying correcting himself. "Who is this Flying Scotsman?"

"A man named Dr. Robert Gibbs. He's a retired paratrooper and veteran of the Vietnam War. He was a CIA agent from 1970-2001 and has a doctorate in psychology. He trained Piney Creek in the art of intelligence, counter-intelligence, analyzing, and 'playing the game' on the level of the masters. That file will also cost you extra."

'Of course it will you Soviet motherfu…,' thought Shuengying knowing this Russian pig was enjoying getting every penny he could squeeze out of China. Worse, he couldn't show this file to anyone because he wasn't authorized to meet with the Soviets. He'd have to try to make this look like a Chinese file and then put it into the system. That would take weeks, maybe even months.

"Where is he now?"

"In Korea, but that is only a guess based off his official orders. He works for the Counter-Intelligence Field Activity, a rough equivalent GRU's counter-intelligence bureau. They are pretty vicious agents in the CIFA, MI (Army Military Intelligence), and INR."

"INR?"

"Bureau of Intelligence and Research, it is the intelligence service of the US State Department. That's probably their most secretive and deadly service. A lot of them are black ops. All their equipment is custom made for each individual agent as they are brought in. Just to give you an idea, Comrade Shuengying."

"But the CIFA is a pretty ferocious organization. They are US Military's main counter-intelligence, internal security, and counter-corruption corps within their intelligence community."

"True enough, Comrade."

"Well… at least I now know who I'm dealing with," said Captain Shuengying with a sigh.

"Nyet (no)," said Tupolev darkly. "Even we in the KGB don't know who we're dealing with. I know we are only seeing the surface."

"Maskirovka?"

"Da, Americans can't be deceptive too."

* * *

**1712 Hours; November 9****th****, 2010; USS Tuatha de Danaan, 120km; Yellow Sea, International Waters**

"You can't be serious," said Shinhachi on the phone.

"I'm damn serious, son," said the deep voice of an older man.

"Sir, the Chinese Politburo wants us to assassinate their own General-Secretary?!" Shinhachi roared into the phone.

"You sure the line is secure?"

"You taught me too well, sir. I would not make such an amateur mistake like that when we're talking killing the leader of a major country like the PRC! Besides, we're the CIFA, who else taps covert ops com-lines?!" said Shinhachi, his voice getting louder with each word. He couldn't believe this was being asked of him. Assassinating a major world leader was the black ops equivalent of using a strategic nuclear missile. It might even entail a fucking nuclear response from the People's Liberation Army Second Artillery Corps! This was black ops warfare at its greatest extreme.

"Calm down, son," said Dr. Gibbs. That may be the biggest bit of bullshit he ever spoke. No one in the United States had killed a leader of this magnitude and he was wondering if this would really work. "Most of their Central Committee members, including their Ministers, are on board with this plan. They want out from this war, but they can't get General-Secretary Zhang to back down. They'll cover there and our asses while we do the dirty work."

"And they naturally can't trust their own people with this. I don't like that. Chinese and Soviets can be pretty predicable in certain ways. We both know how it will probably end"

"I know son. They'll probably try to kill off our assassination team so we can't hold this over them. Hell, they may even frame us saying it was all our idea and then use this as leverage to lift the embargo."

Shinhachi nodded, "Yeah, it is where the governments of People's Republic of China and the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic are similar. So is the idea of them being prepared to bring themselves down if they think they can take us with them."

"Well, kid, we'll take care of things and tell you on a need-to-know-basis," said Dr. Gibbs in a standard covert operative wrap-up. "I'll tell your Six for you."

"Of course," said Colonel Shinhachi dully.

He sighed and picked up a file just sent to him a mere 40 minutes ago from a Naichō agent. It was a People's Liberation Army Special Operation Group's Intelligence Bureau file on Joseph Ivanovich Penovaski. Penovaski, or Comrade Joseph as Shinhachi was fondly calling him in his head (2), was very different from what the Central Intelligence Agency had to say. The file the CIA had was a pile of shit the Soviets' misinformation teams left for them to find. General-Secretary Bolotnikov's people had probably done this hoping the US would eliminate Penovaski for them. The file he himself and Maiwald had read and decoded was purposely left for them to find. The clever bastards did the trick of making them work a little from information and convincing them they had found something big. It was a stupid mistake and one he would take responsibility for.

'That contact of mine is a dead man,' he thought bitterly. It wasn't the first time the Reds had duped the US into doing their dirty work.

Penovaski was described by the Chinese as being paranoid, but highly intelligent. He was progressive and was compared to Peter Romanov also called Peter the Great, the Russian Czar who modernized Russia during his time. Peter the Great however had to drag a Russia into the future kicking and screaming. The Chinese had information on his meeting in Stalingrad complete with an audio recording. Colonel Shinhachi wondered who in the PLASOF penetrated the Soviet Politburo, something thought to be impossible.

'He's much more progressive than we thought,' thought Shinhachi as he listened to the recording of his plans for a new and better Rodina. He made notes on a legal pad. Compass Rose Six would be getting a copy of his report. So would the chiefs of operations at the CIFA and probably the rest of the DoD's intelligence services, but strictly on a need to know basis.

* * *

**1457 Hours; November 11****th****, 2010; Downtown Area, Taegu; Taegu Speacial Administrative Province, Republic of Korea**

5th squad was helping clear up the mess from the earthquake. They were clearing the tracks for supply trains now being redirected through Taegu. Manual labor of this nature was not new to Harima and he did so without complaint.

Mori was saying how irresponsible the Federal Army was for not getting winter uniforms to the 6th Infantry Division yet.

The German soldiers already had them. They had learned long ago what being unprepared for winter does in the Eastern Front (3). The British and Americans were only just getting them and the Japanese were supposed to get them sometime before next Saturday.

Asou was wondering what if the division would be sent into battle even though they still had green and brown summer color-scheme camouflage instead of the multi-shades of grey for winter. Winter uniforms were like the other uniforms in appearance, but were better insolated and had a long overcoat with hood that went over the tunic and fell to the knees.

Harima would kill for a proper winter uniform as lazily fell from the grey clouds avoid. They had to settle for their rain gear which kept them dry and blocked the wind, but didn't make up for the -3 Celsius temperature the threatened to drop in the coming week.

"You think it will get any colder?" asked Tsutsui.

"The mountains are supposed to shield us from the more extreme weather," said Amakasu. "But it's only November. Winter hasn't officially started."

"Tell that to my freezing balls," wined Shibata.

Nobody responded. Shibata was always acting like this way. Even after nearly being killed he was still a moron who had not realized that in war, people die.

"The brat sure knows how to ruin a conversation," Harima whispered to Hanai as they carried a chunk of concrete of the tracks. Hanai gave an appreciative chuckle, but didn't say anything.

"There they go again," said Lt. Urashima holding his shovel at his hip and pointing to the sky. Over a hundred planes were flying northeast from Japan to Seoul. Operation: November Skies was not going as well as they had hoped. NATO had lost a number of planes to surface-to-air missiles, and elite PLAAF and KPAF pilots. There was also a report of Soviet renegades flying with the PLAAF. Nobody was sure if that was true, but they could see by the damaged returning planes that the air campaign wasn't going as well as it should.

Lt. Urashima sighed as he watched the planes heading back to Japan. He knew one of the squadrons was flying out of a small airbase near Hinata, where he was from. He wondered how the people in the dormitory he was landlord of was doing. Did they care? They didn't write often. This was turning into a certain level bitterness. When this war was over what then? Go home and piece together a life out of the lie he'd lived for so long.

'You never were a happy man, Keitaro,' he told himself. 'Time to start living in the real world, but that's why you volunteered.'

Captain Histugaya was pushing a wheelbarrow. 1st Lt. Matsumoto was lazing around somewhere. Hitsugaya, unlike his second in command, took pleasure in getting a work done, even if it was manual labor that most officers would make the NCOs and enlisted soldiers do. He was disappointed the only one officer in his company working. 2nd Lt. Urashima seemed to use this kind of work, but he was an archeologist so maybe this was something he's done a lot of before.

By 2000 hours a company from the 28th Armor Battalion took over. They would continue working under high intensity lights supported by portable generators. M939 5-ton trucks ferried them back to base.

Fujiwara walked through the dinner line holding her food tray out for the cooks to dump food on it. One of the cooks looked at her appearance. She knew he was scrutinizing her and seeing she was half Japanese. Seeing her dark red hair that leaned towards the brownish end of the spectrum and her bottle green eyes. His eyes fell upon her breasts which were visible even through the multiple layers of shirts and tunics she was wearing to keep warm. He smiled shyly at her, which caught her off guard. Fujiwara thanked him for the food and went in search of 5th squad.

Fujiwara, while looking around the mess hall for her friends, collided with another soldier. He bored the patch of the 2nd Home Guard Brigade; they were here to further help with the relief effort for the earthquake.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" he demanded seeing food smeared across his uniform.

"Gomen," apologized Fujiwara standing up after falling to the floor.

"Oi, half-breed, why are you wearing our nation's uniform?" asked a second man.

Fujiwara felt her heart freeze and her mind leap to some of her most unpleasant memories. She hadn't been called that since she entered 5th squad. These were like so many other faceless bullies who harassed her for years. Many other soldiers looked around at the commotion. Most didn't look like they approved of the two guardsmen's choice of words, but they did not want to intervene.

"I-I… uh… am a soldier of Hihon (Japan)," she stammered.

"Ah! A half-breed like you! A soldier?" laughed the first man.

"When did you fight?" asked Fujiwara losing her temper for the first time in her life. She'd nearly had her head blown off by KPA conscripts blindly charging at her until she ran out of ammo. She lost friends in that battle. People she'd cared for her and cared for her in return. These men were bullies who were playing soldier. She was a real soldier and she refused to take this shit any more.

"What did you say bitch?!" demanded the second man picking up Fujiwara by the collar of her tunic. Fujiwara was not a larger woman and both men were twice her size.

"I have seen the enemy and he is mine," she asked defiantly quoting the American Commodore Oliver Perry. She glared at them and asked, "I nearly died at the hands of the Communists. You look like able body people, why aren't you at the front?"

"Why you-" he said enraged.

Fujiwara spat in his face. He roared and drew back a fist. Fujiwara closed her eyes ready to take the blow like a bullet, but knowing she was not going to die.

**Wham!**

She was falling to the floor, but not because she had been punched. She had been dropped and a pair of arms caught her.

"You right, Fiona?" asked Harima in English.

"Yes, thank you. And it's 'you alright', not 'you right'," she said correcting his English.

"Kenji, you got her?" asked Hanai who had her would-be-assailant pined to the floor by the heel of his boot. Kitsumori was staring down the other man. Her fellow assault teammates, Kurosaki and Abarai, were cracking their knuckles threateningly at the other Home Guard soldiers who looked like they wanted to help their friends.

"I got her," said Harima helping up his English-teacher/sister-in-arms, to her feet.

Harima was easily bigger and stronger than most of the people in the room. In addition to Hanai, Kitsumori, Kurosaki, Abarai, and the other squad members was pretty cowing for these kids playing soldier.

Ikuro stepped over to Fujiwara. "You okay?"

"Hai, ma'am."

Ikuro nodded and then turned to face the two Home Guardsmen with an icy glare. Ikuro was incensed that these two dared touch one of her assault team soldiers. Corporal Ikuro Miyu had survived six major battles from Awaji, Japan to Kunwi, South Korea. She was furious that these men insulted a good soldier because of her appearance and race. She pulled the man out from under Hanai, slowly raised her hand, and slapped him across the face. "Touch my subordinates again and that will be my pistol grip!"

Ikuro was always the toughest and most aggressive of the female soldiers in 5th squad, and she was as protective as a mother bear when it came to the three soldiers under her care. Her assault team had seen her break a PLAGF soldier's jaw with the grip of her USP .45 semi-auto handgun. It was far from an idol threat.

"Come on Fiona, lets get you some fresh food," said Harima leading her away as Lt. Urashima walked over to see what was going on.

"Is there a problem?" he asked lightly with her calm smile. The lieutenant was looking benignly at the two guardsmen.

"No, sir," the two men said in unison. They knew better than to be wiseasses in front of an officer.

"I didn't think so," said Urashima with a smile that made the hairs stand up on everyone's necks. His smiled was distant and his eyes were cold. He walked back to the officers' table, looked over his shoulder and said, "Any more problems and it will be Captain Histugaya dealing with the situation, and you all know how patient he is."

"Go lieutenant," cheered Harima quietly to himself and Fujiwara.

"Don't think to harshly of us Home Guardsmen, miss," said the same cook from earlier to Fujiwara. He was blushing a little this time around. "Most of us don't think that way."

"I know," she said accepting the second tray of food. 'Those bastards just stand out more.'

"Enjoy your meal, miss," he said kindly.

"Arigato."

Harima walked Fujiwara back to the table 5th squad claimed. Asou was sitting their quietly.

"Don't you think it was a bit much to call in the Lieutenant?" asked Harima.

"I know you too well Harima," said Asou with a small grin. "You and all of us stick together. And as much as I would have liked to have help, I have to be responsible."

"Can we still beat them up?"

"I didn't hear that," said Asou taking a sip from his cup. "Besides, there are other ways to deal this those types."

* * *

**2315 Hours; November 11****th****, 2010; Lt. General Honnoji Keiji office, Pusan; South Gyeongsang Province, Republic of Korea**

"Hai, arigato," said Lt. General Honnoji, commander of Japanese forces in Korea, into his phone. He hung up and stared down at the computer screen on his desk. It was currently showing NATO positions and known Communist positions.

He was tired. He had not slept in 50 hours and wasn't exactly young anymore. He started writing up orders.

'To: Federal Army Supply Corps; Central HQ, Tokyo

From: Lord Jūichi-Gatsu

Winter combat gear for ground forces is to be prioritized as of now.'

'To: Commander of 2nd Home Guards Brigade

From: Lord Jūichi-Gatsu

Your brigade will take over relief assignments in Korea upon a date to be determined.'

'To: Green Moon

From: Lord Jūichi-Gatsu

Proper packages will be delivered soon. Protocol: Bravo 1. Situation: Alpha 5.'

These were all short messages. Honnoji had hoped to reward is best fighting force, the 6th Infantry, a longer rest, but that wasn't to be. The 10th Infantry and 2nd Armor Divisions were at the front with winter gear. The 1st Airborne Division was still waiting for theirs at Taejon. The 1st Marine Division was also waiting for winter equipment at their locations in Kusan, but they were the Federal Navy's responsibility, not his.

The air commander, Major General Oono Ayame, was grounding her squadrons one-by-one to repaint the planes with the proper camouflage. She had given Honnoji the only good news from the air campaign yesterday. While NATO and the South Koreans dealt with the earthquake that hadn't affected the Communists the Communists were being battered by a blizzard and grounding two-thirds of their air power. Of course, the Soviet pilots were used to weather and they would still pose a major threat to NATO pilots.

There was a low hum from the printer on the credenza next to his desk.

'To: Lord Jūichi-Gatsu

From: Federal Army Supply Corps; Central HQ, Tokyo

Winter gear will be distributed ASAP (as soon as possible).'

'Ii desu (good),' he thought. Of course, considering that Japan was in shooting range from long range artillery from Korea, it wasn't that surprising that the Supply Corps could do things in a timely manner. Especially compared to the Germans, British, and others would have to get supplies from two oceans away.

The 1st Airborne Division, 6th Infantry Division, 5th Armor Division, and various engineering, medical, auxiliary, air-defense, and artillery regiments would be sent to the front as soon as they had supplies.

'This isn't going to be pretty,' he thought. 'My five divisions and supporting units attacking this one area!'

The 1st Airborne, 5th Armor, and 10th Infantry would join the US 12th Armor Division in cutting off Seoul from Incheon. British, French, and Turkish troops would move for Kimp'o. The South Korean would attack from the east side of the city with everything they had. The US 54th Infantry and the Japanese 6th Infantry and 2nd Armor would attack the south side of Seoul and push across the Han River.

Sounds like a plan? Not in Honnoji's opinion. Government leaders were putting massive pressure on military leaders to end the war as soon as possible. This operation was sloppy and had too few specific objectives. They didn't have designated rendezvous points for linking up with the South Koreans and the link up point with the Americans was very vague. The worst part was that there wasn't a contingency plan for a tactical retreat. Honnoji was sending his soldiers into No Man's Land and he had no time to prepare them for it.

* * *

**1800 Hours; November 14****th****, 2010; NATO Base, Taegu; Teagu Special Administrative Province, Republic of Korea**

"We all must have seen this coming," said Colonel Hojo as he took a bite of dinner. The officers of the 81st Heliborne/Armor Regiment were having a dinner meeting.

"My platoon has been very suspicious, particularly 5th squad," said Lt. Urashima nodding. "They haven't said anything, they know better, but they can tell when their about to be sent into a battle. They know that getting all their winter equipment and the being stocked up on all their supplies are signs they are going to the front."

"You seem to know your platoon very well," said 1st Lt. Matsumoto.

"I make it my business to know my soldiers, all 48 of them," he said taking a sip from his tea.

"Do the other platoons know what's going on?" asked Colonel Hojo.

"Some of my soldiers think something is up," said Captain Matsuyashi Soko, commander of Hollow Company of the 28th Armor Battalion.

"Most of the soldiers have exepted to be sent to Seoul," said Captain Nara of Dogwood Company of the 27th Infantry Battalion. "But only a handful seems to realize how fast things are happening."

"What is the plan?" asked 1st Lt. Zakito, second in command of D Company.

Colonel Hojo sighed heavily, but didn't answer. Lt. Colonel Daijin answered, "There is basically no plan to speak of. As officers who will be at the front, we are responsible for making things up as we go along."

"Are we under US command as usual?" asked 2nd Lt. Shimoku Yuji, commander of 2nd platoon of Foxglove Company.

"Not sure," said Hojo, "but I think we're calling the shots since we will have two divisions and the Americans will have one. There will be a Turkish regiment held in reserve with a Belgian regiment, but that will be the only reserves."

"Fire support?" asked Urashima. He liked to know what support he could count on.

"All of our division's artillery will be brought to the front and our choppers too. Weather may not allow for close air support and may even eliminate laser-guided weapons. It's still sketchy on that, but the Federal Air Force's meteorologists aren't taking a very positive few so far," Lt. Colonel Daijin finishing off her miso soup and starting on a salad.

"So much for are all-weather air support (4)," said Captain Hitsugaya with a snort. Some of the officers gave weak smiles, Urashima was the only one with a convincing one, but none found that statement the least bit funny. Fire support was a huge part of NATO style of warfare. It made dealing with larger forces like the Chinese less costly. Air power and naval strength was NATO's edge, but would either be available?

"When do we go?" asked Major Yanagisawa, commander of Haitatsu Helicopter Squadron. He was wondering if his choppers would even be needed if the weather was as bad as they were implying.

"Soon," said Colonel Hojo. That was honestly all he knew as far as a date was concerned for the attack on Seoul.

* * *

**1915 Hours; November 14****th****, 2010; Barracks #23, Taegu; Taegu Special Administrative Province, Republic of Korea**

"What do you think they're talking about?" asked Abarai.

"They're probably discussing about us going to the front," said Ishida examining his newly issued winter overcoat that went with the rest of his winter C-Class battle-dress uniform. "There is no way they got us these this quickly when we're at the rear unless they plan to send us back."

A few members nodded.

"You're usually right about these things, Uryū," said Kurosaki looking down at his feet. He contemplated what was going to become of them.

"We can always ask Lt. Urashima," said Jupei. "He'll probably tell us."

Asou frowned skeptically, "If we're going to Seoul like everyone thinks we are then he may not be allowed to tell us anything until we get to the front."

"I'm sure he will give us some idea," said Jupei. Ever since Urashima had talked to her on his first day, she'd been rather fond of him. She wasn't alone either. Lt. Urashima's kind and caring demeanor, coupled with his skills as a combat leader, made him on of the most popular officers in the battalion, if not the regiment.

"Either way, bring 'em on! I kill all those commies!" yelled Shibata.

"Shut up!" yelled half the squad. "Do you realize what you're saying?!"

Shibata's hadn't hit a single person in the few battles he was in. Many had that was why he seemed so eager to kill people. Saying he was ready to fight didn't bother anyone. Wanting to kill a person like it was some first-person shooter videogame was what pissed 5th squad off.

"On to other business," said Ikuro steering the conversation into safer waters. Her arms crossed in a business manner. "What do you guys think? We haven't been given a lot of information."

"That's not unusual," said Ishida. "They may ship us off to a secure location like they did for Operation: Republic's Typhoon."

"I don't know," said Mori speculatively. "The officers don't look like what's going on either."

Asou paced the room.

There was a knock. 2nd Lt. Urashima entered to room. He was not smiling. He was dead serious and said, "You guys are too smart not to know what's happening. I can't and won't tell you the specifics, but this is not well planned at all. The Colonel says we, the officers, will be making this up as we go along. The Lt. Colonel wants us all to make sure the NCOs are ready and able."

"What do you mean?" asked Asou.

Urashima didn't immediately answer. "The plan is to go in."

"And?"

"There is no 'and'. You are responsible for your squad. Start rifle and maneuver drills at 0700."

* * *

**0900 Hours; November 15****th****, 2010; somewhere on Taegu's outskirts, woodlands; Taegu Special Administrative Province, Republic of Korea**

"Fire team, maneuver right flank!" ordered Asou. "Fire team, suppress!"

Kitsumori laid down a field of 7.62x51mm full metal jacket cartridges from his M-60E4. Harima was firing short controlled bursts of 7.62x51mm jacketed hollow tips from his M-14E3. Hanai and Jupei were firing automatic bursts of 5.52x45mm from their Type 89 assault rifles. They were suppressing wooden targets while Ikuro led her team to flank. The engineers and command teams were covering flanks.

Ikuro ran low along a dried up creekbed with her team behind her. There were trees that would hide her flank attack. She picked around from behind a bolder. Ikuro singled to throw grenades.

"Less than 40 seconds," said Lt. Urashima to Captain Hitsugaya from the observation post. "Best one yet."

"2nd squad and D Company's 9th squad were faster," said 1st Lt. Matsumoto defensively.

"Your squad left their flanks exposed, and 9th squad had the anti-air team attached to their squad charge right up the middle with their assault team," said Lt. Urashima in a polite tone with his usual smile, but a note of criticism underneath.

"Agreed, 5th, 4th, and 1st squads are our best. They make the most efficient use of their soldiers and adapt faster than the others," said Hitsugaya. Hitsugaya was a little concerned that most of his squads were being slowed down by the thicker winter trousers and tunics. Some soldiers were having trouble fitting their hands into the trigger guards with the winter gloves and a couple soldiers got tangled up in their long winter overcoats because their hadn't fastened them properly.

"Send those squads down to the more advance course. The rest of the company will drill until they can suppress and flank with a minimal time of 60 seconds."

The 'advance' course was 1st squad of 1st platoon and 4th and 5th squads of 2nd platoon attacking in a coordinated assault. The couple of buildings were set up which were made of drywall and plywood. The training course had been erected hastily. Only one building had a second story, most had no roofs, and a couple didn't even have doors, but open doorways. No building was larger than 36x36ft. They were dumping their live ammo and loading low velocity rubber bullets. They would hurt, but shouldn't kill. US Army instructors would be the 'enemy'. They were wearing replicas of Chinese uniforms and carrying replicas of Chinese weapons. All were sergeants.

"Okay everybody," said a US chief warrant officer while the other sergeants checked to make sure nobody had live rounds. "Your rounds are coded in blue chalk and ours are coded in red. There will be an instructor with each squad. They know how to keep out of the way so don't worry about them giving your positions away.

Very important! Avoid aiming for the head. These rounds don't normally kill, but we've had incidents where trainees were killed after being struck in just the right spot. Kevlar vests should protect your vital points. Also remember, these training rounds have a much lower velocity than live ammo. They have a higher drop-off rate (5) and much shorter range."

"That shouldn't matter. This drill will be conducted at close range," said Sergeant Major Nobuyami Haruma, commander of 1st squad.

1st squad's starting point was on a road to the 'town'. 4th squad's starting point was in the trees. 5th squad starting point was in the trees, but on the east side of the town, opposite of 4th squad. They were free to maneuver as they pleased, but they had to clear and secure the town.

They new they were facing at least 24 instructors, but they were also told more were already in the town.

They would be no officers, other than Captain Histugaya who was watching to see if any of his squads would be able to function without clear leadership. He'd even arranged for some mortar teams to fire a surprise barrage with flares. He also had an OH-6J Little Bird with specially modified guns armed with paint balls. They would have to be careful not to injure his soldiers.

Asou was stalking through the trees with his squad. Unlike the previous drills they had been running through all morning, this one didn't require speed. The main objective was seize the town with minimal loses.

"This is Echo 5-1 to Echo 4-1," whispered Asou into his helmet mounted radio. The helmet mounted radio had short range, but neither squad could be more than 800m away.

"Echo 4-1, go ahead 5-1," responded Master Sergeant Yokoshi Kio.

"We're under 500m out from town. We're going scout around and keep quiet until we get the lay of the land, over."

"Copy that, we're doing the same on this side. 1st squad is crawling up towards the town in the prone and they're going to set up firing positions, over."

Asou frowned. The area around the road was tall grass covered in a thin layer of snow. Way too exposed for that and the snow may leave a trail. "May not be a good idea. Looks too exposed. Maybe they should try an ambushed, over."

"I relay that, out."

Asou moved slowly. The winter uniform helped keep them hidden. Even though the snow wasn't thick, there was enough of it out there to cover most of the ground. The camouflage scheme was the same, thousands of spots like an impressionist painting in a similar idea as the US digital camouflage. However it was not perfect. Camouflage was only good if you weren't moving. Asou remembered when he read the study guide for his driver's test, only 3 percent of the human eye saw detail and over 40 percent was devoted to detecting movement. Camouflage was useless at hiding their movements if they were going to fast.

"5-2, take a look at the town," ordered Asou.

"Understood," said Ishida raising his M-21 and looking through his mil-dot scope (6). He spoke into his radio so everyone could hear. "I see multiple patrols on the streets. There in groups of three. All have rifles, carbines, and SMGs. I see a shooter on the second story building."

"Pretty obvious position," muttered Hanai.

"I see a machine covering the road in the second building left of the road. I need to move to a different position, sir."

Asou nodded and Ishida crept sideways along the treeline never lowering his sniper rifle. He paused at intervals so keep his movements down to a negligible amount. Even though Ishida was a sharpshooter and not a sniper, he knew how to stalk like a sniper.

"Okay, I see new contacts. Looks like they have most of the building occupied by one or two soldiers."

The 'enemy' was calm and positioned well. 4th squad would be able to move in closer from the west side. It made sense for 5th to open fire from their position and draw attention away from the others.

Captain Histugaya watched as blue tracers from training rounds come from the woods. He figured 5th squad was there. The mortars opened up and sent a volley of magnesium rounds. Looking throw the binoculars he saw SSgt. Asou's reaction was from the moment he heard the pop from the mortars being launched. His reaction was slowed by a second, he was probably confused by mortars in a training drill and the fact that he would recognize the sound of an 81mm mortar. Hitsugaya wished they could have used some captured Chinese mortars for more authenticity. 5th squad was falling back. It was a classic NATO tactic. When completely caught off guard you either call in enough fire support to turn Tokyo into parking lot or retreat to a safer location and reorganize. NATO taught its officers and NCOs to never be afraid to try more than once.

4th squad was slowly moving to ambush the west side. Hitsugaya guessed they must be preparing to press close quarters to deny the enemy of mortar support. To Hitsugaya's shock 1st squad opened up from their exposed position. 'What the hell are they thinking?'

Thick clouds of smoke emerge and he couldn't see any more. More smoke grenades were tossed to widen the cloud. Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow at this development. Were they trying to get on the flanks?

In another 20 minutes all three squads had swept the town clear. Tally was 5 wounded and 1 KIA.

1st squad had actually charged straight up the middle and drove left clearing a path for 4th squad. 5th squad had reappeared on the northwest side of town while everybody had their attention on the opposite side of town.

"Captain, are you satisfied?" asked 1st Lt. Matsumoto arriving to the observation post.

"Some what," he said tersely. "This is only a third of the company. I'd like to run this drill through with the entire company."

"The rest will be arriving soon. ETA… about 3 minutes," said Matsumoto judging how soon she thought they arrived.

"Fine. You're in charge," said Hitsugaya walking over to a MUTT Jeep. "I need to make a call."

"Sasebo Navy Hospital?" asked Matsumoto with a grin.

Hitsugaya gave her a cold glare and walked away saying as he walked, "Momo is feeling better. She can talk longer for longer periods now."

* * *

**0700 Hours, November 16****th****, 2010; Heckler Residence, Kirkland; Washington State, United States of America**

'Who the hell is calling me?' wondered Emma totally pissed off. It was 7:00 am on a Saturday. She'd spent half the night readying a manga for distribution in the United States, Canada, and Germany.

"Hello?" answered Emma wishing she could send an electrical shock through the phone line.

"You sound wake," laughed a familiar male voice.

"… where the hell have you been?" she demanded.

"I got a new job and I haven't been able to contact you until today," said Jack Shinhachi.

"Doing what?" asked Emma wondering if Jack was now in some kind of black operation.

"I was made an O-6 and got command of a whole section of a task force."

'O-6… that was a… a… colonel, that's it.' She smiled, "That's great… but what are you doing?"

"I'm part of a joint NATO task force aimed at making NATO covert operations easier and to eliminate the red tape. Each section is autonomous, but each has a specific task. I head up intelligence and counter-intelligence."

"Sounds like Rainbow Six," said Emma naming on of Clancy's most popular novels.

"Sorta', but it's has a lot more personnel, it's not a black ops, and we're military, not counter-terrorism," he said. Admittedly, Jack had not read Rainbow Six, but Jason talked about enough to the point where he felt like he read it.

"So, have you been sleeping?" asked Emma worriedly.

"Some, but being in command has put a lot of stress on me," he said laughing it off.

"Your hair is going to turn grey before you're 30," she said sighing.

"Emma," he said quietly.

"Ja (yes)?"

"It will be over soon. I'm supposed to make sure of that."

"Soon enough for Thanksgiving (7)?" Emma asked hopefully.

"Probably not, but maybe Christmas."

"You sure, you don't really celebrate Christmas," said Emma. Jack joined Emma, Ginny, Jason, Sean, and the others for Christmas, but it was a little awkward for him. So were those times he joined Maya, Fiona, and Kevin for Hanukah. He was the only Shinto. For him, New Years Day was his big holiday where gifts were exchange and shrines were visited. While most Americans were hung over from partying all New Years Eve, Jack and his family were in quiet serenity and praying for a good year every January 1st.

"I'll humor you like I do every year."

"Fine, but I'm joining you for New Years."

"You're not gonna' stay up all night and drink and watch the damn ball drop?" he asked. Why one sixth of the world stayed up to watch an overly glorified disco ball that cost as much as an M1A2 Abram at midnight every year was beyond him.

"You stay up with your cousins."

"They're still young enough to like any reason to stay up past 10."

Emma giggled. So typical of him to be a cynic. "I got a job."

"Manga?"

"Ja. I now work on contract with a company in Japan. I get my work produced there and for them I translate work for English and German speaking markets."

"You like it?" asked Jack hoping she does.

"Ja."

Emma heard a voice in the background. Then Jack talking back to this person.

"Sorry, Emma. But I need to head out again… I don't know when I can call you again."

It was the hardest thing for him. He knew he wasn't being fair to her, but he could keep in contact with her all the time while on the Danaan.

"It's not the first time. But come home soon."

'This isn't enough,' both thought as they hung up.

* * *

**0700 Hours; November 16****th****, 2010; People's Liberation Army HQ Korea, Incheon; Seoul National Capital Area, Republic of Korea (occupied)**

"NATO is not as strong as you think General Tang," said Colonel General Xiao. "Do not blame them for your mistakes."

"With all due respect sir-" started Colonel Senior Zhui.

"No you may not!" he thundered.

"General, I understand that you are under great pressure from the Central Committee," said Captain Wung knowing he was putting his neck out. "I think it is a little unfair though. I have sent a letter directly to my father and then phoned him to give him a more detailed account of the front when the Minister of Defense asked for one."

Xiao went cold. A little captain went over his head like that?! He would have punished this bastard if he wasn't a son of a member of the Politburo. He would make an example of these men and put them under KPA command at Seoul.

* * *

So I'm going to move on to the Battle of Seoul. As you can see the end is in sight, but I think the Battle of Seoul will be a multi stage chapter battle.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. The First Directorate of the KGB is the foreign operations branch.

2. In Russia a friendly, yet formal way to speak to someone is to use their first and middle name.

3. The Eastern Front of World War II saw thousands of Germans die in the freezing cold. The Wehrmacht was totally unprepared for the Russian winter and was a major factor in their loss to the USSR.

4. All-weather planes, such as all-weather air supremacy fighters, are aircraft that **in theory** are supposed to be any to fly in any weather condition. Ground forces (and Murphy's Laws of Combat) usually like to make jokes that all-weather planes don't work in bad weather.

5. Drop-off rate is measurement of descent for a cartridge after it moves a certain distance. In its simplest form it is a constant descent that for every hundred odd meters the round has lost a centimeter in altitude. Of course in real life the drop-off rate increases as velocity decrease and the curvature of the Earth also can play a small role if one is aiming at targets far enough away. Usually the average soldier doesn't have to worry about drop-off rate, but soldiers who are aiming at long range targets like particularly snipers have to calculate for it (normally assisted by a spotter). Tanks, artillery, and warships also have to account for drop-off rate.

6. Mil-dot is a duplex crosshairs at milliradian intervals. If you enter 'telescopic sight' in Wikipedia you can see images of what the sights looks like. It is very popular in the United States Armed Forces and United States Law Enforcement. Several NATO nations use Mil-dot scopes. Some modern scopes don't have the hairs crossover and have a laser dot in its place.

7. For my non-American readers, Thanksgiving is a holiday celebrated on the fourth Thursday of everyone November. It is a national holiday that most businesses (including federal offices and schools) close for. Its origins go back to the Pilgrims arriving in North America in 1619. There is also a Thanksgiving celebrated on the second Monday of October in Canada with some similarities. Japan also has a Thanksgiving, but it's called Kinrō Kansha no Hi (Labor Thanksgiving Day) celebrated every November 23 and like in Canada it celebrates the harvest. Since it was created in 1948, Kinrō Kansha no Hi it is a national holiday that government offices, businesses, and schools observe and close for. It is speculated that is was made to please the Americans who were occupying Japan, but Kinrō Kansha no Hi does have ancient roots as a holiday known as Niiname-sai, the rice harvest festival, which has been held as far back a November 678.


	55. Chapter 55: Seoul

Finally we get to the battle of Seoul. It took me over 8 months to get this far and I appreciate all my readers (especially the ones who left reviews) for sticking with me this long.

Thank you Grand Admiral Gin for your review. I had no idea you had your own account or were posting your own stories. Good for you man.

Thank you ahgwa for your review. I'm glad people enjoy the bits of humor I interject into the chapters. I like comedy and try to put some in.

A very special thank you to the people who puts maps of Seoul on goggle. I love maps, since I was a kid I could spend hours looking at anything from a road map to a map of a country.

I finished the Hunt for Red October. Now I'm reading the Patriot Games by Tom Clancy. I graduate from high school in a couple of days and on June 17, I turn 19.

If I say this story is complete, can I still make edits to the chapters? I know I have a few people who have posted completed stories reading this. Can I? I assume you can, but I don't know.

I don't own any trademarked or copywrite item. Please review and/or tell a friend.

* * *

**Chapter 55: Seoul**

"Children, be afraid when the government starts calling you 'our most valuable natural resource'. Just look how they've managed all our other natural resources."

Folk Singer Utah Phillips

**0700 Hours; November 19****th****, 2010; 30km south of Seoul; Seoul National Capitol Area, Republic of Korea**

The skies were a mix of grey and blue. A thin layer of snow covered the ground.

Underneath camouflage nettings, FH-70 155mm howitzers were trained towards Seoul. Two Japanese divisions and one American division were beginning to advance. All guns were silent so not to give any warning. Radio traffic was light. Vehicles and armor were moving slowly and cautiously.

"See anything?" asked Harima the gunner of the Type 89 IFV they were inside.

"Nottin' yet," said responded the gunner.

Echo Company was moving up a two-lane road that was supposed to reach the southern limits of Seoul. Some of Hollow Company's armor was supporting them.

**Bang! Clang!**

A burst of machine gun fire ricocheted off the Type 89 IFV. The fire team and assault teams heard the hydraulic noise of the IFV's turret being turned to face the hapless KPA gunner. There was a short burst from the M240 7.62x51mm coaxial gun. The lack of a second burst left little to the imagination.

"Hostile infantry!" said the IFV's commander. "Looks like a welcoming committee. Hang on down there, this won't take long."

The gunner continued to use he coaxial gun along with the 35mm auto-cannon in short bursts. None of the passengers spoke. It was stressful to hear the shooting and not able to react or see what was going on the outside.

"UAZ, 2 O'clock," reported someone over the radio.

"I see 'im," said the gunner. He spoke with a Konzai accent. There was a burst from the coaxial gun. "He's a gone."

"Infantry, 11 O'clock," reported the driver.

"Ther' gone."

"Shit, RGP!" shouted the commander.

The Type 89 lurched to the side and went off the road to avoid the incoming AT rocket. The members of 5th squad inside this IFV were bouncing around on the benches as the driver evaded the incoming projectile.

"Them commies ar' in tha' buildin' up 'head. Call in a bird," shouted the gunner.

Two Japanese Federal Army AH-64DJP Apache Longbows were operating in the area. Doppler radar, used by meteorologists to see weather patterns, showed the storm that hit northeastern China and northern North Korea was moving south. It was projected to hit by 1200 hours and would ground all aircraft few a while. Everyone knew air support would be limited and to call in what they could.

A soldier on the ground marked a building. The Apache pilot hovered a safe distance away while the weapon's officer waited for a lock.

"Keep them painted for us… got a lock. Cleared?"

"Cleared hot," said the pilot, giving the WO (weapon's officer) permission to fire.

"Rifle-One (1)."

The missile flew off the hardpoint and flew towards the laser.

"Target hit, standing by for conformation."

"… target is silent, we're moving in to inspect," said a man on the ground.

The back ramp of the IFV lowered. Hanai and Ikuro led their teams out and joined up with Asou. 2nd Lt. Urashima was leading the dismounting 2nd platoon up towards a damaged four story building.

"I see movement," reported a soldier over the radio.

"I see him too," see a second.

"He's a got a gun! He's a tango!" shouted a third soldier.

"I got him," said Ishida taking aim. "He's down. Crap, more contacts on all floors."

The building was to the right side of the road. The middle of the building had collapsed when the Maverick struck it leaving the interior exposed. Green tracers from KPA soldiers' rifles came in sporadic volleys. 2nd platoon and the supporting vehicles returned fire.

It was difficult to tell if they were hitting anything. It was also hard to aim accurately in the poor light of the morning hour with a ghost ring iron sight featured on the Type 89 assault rifle and M-16 assault rifle.

Ishida had a scope on his rifle and the more recent recruits, like Fujiwara, had reflex scopes (2), but most of Echo Company had yet to receive them. That allowed the users to aim and shoot targets much faster and more accurately than the iron sights at all guns had.

Harima adjusted the patridge iron sight on his M-14E3 for 400m (365.76yd). He wished he could see better. It was too late in the morning for nightvision goggles. Harima had removed the military issued sunglasses they used to shield their eyes from the sun. In this early hour the sunglasses made it difficult to see beyond a 150m. The KPAGF seemed to be having similar problems because their shots were falling short or were too high. Though, it could also be because they were outside of the AK-47s accurate range.

**Boom!**

The building exploded from a 105mm round fired by a Type 74 medium tank.

"This is Echo 4-0," said Lt. Urashima. "4-1, take your squad to clear that building. 5th squad, move with them and cover their flank. 6th squad, hold in watchover position until 4th and 5th squads are in position and then advance, out."

Asou jogged doubled-over with his squad close behind him. His chief concern was being ambush at close range where the KPAGF's numbers would give them the advantage and their old Kalashnikovs would be highly effective.

"Contacts!" shouted Yamako raising his Type 89 and firing single shots at KPA infantry. 5th squad spread out behind rubble of concrete chunks. Pieces of concrete were broken off with a cracking noise as rounds smashed into it.

When openings presented themselves, 5th squad would pop out from behind objects and fire. A Type 73 APC pulled up along side the building and from the street it started to strafe the KPA with .50 cal rounds.

"Frag out!" shouted Asou.

Jupei and Abarai stood up and each fired a 40mm fragmentation grenade at the white lights of muzzle flashes. There were screams followed by bodies and blood falling from their perches.

"5-1, 4-1, we have things here. Watch our asses while we sweep and clear," said Sergeant 1st Class Ugiji.

"Copy that, moving to the right flank, out."

After a few minutes it was decided this building was clear and they returned to the soldiers returned to their respective APCs and IFVs.

The Type 89 was better armored and armed then its older counter-parts like the Type 73 APC, but the Type 73 was roomier on the inside since it had less armament. It was a toss up of which Harima would have preferred to be in right now.

The sudden clang of bullets hitting the outside armor to Harima's back made him decide it was better he was in something with armor at all instead of the HMMWV or MUTT. The turret rotated left and right in an endless hydraulic wine. Its gun was being raised and lowered as it pursued targets.

"Hollow 7-8, 7-1 here. UAV flights show lots of hostile activity ahead. They're probably setting up line of defense. We're gonna' let 9th squad take the lead, over."

"Rodger that 7-1. 7-8, out."

Outside, a group of Type 74 medium tanks and a couple of new Type 10 medium tanks passed the APCs and IFVs. The tanks formed a buffer zone between the road ahead and the infantry carriers.

* * *

**0751 Hours; November 19****th****, 2010; People's Liberation Army Ground Force's 70****th**** Infantry Division HQ, Seoul; Seoul National Capital Area, Republic of Korea (occupied)**

"Can you confirm the reports?" asked Captain Wung.

"Bù (no), not yet at least," said a 2nd lieutenant making calls to the KPAGF officers. "I can't understand why NATO is attacking now thought."

Wung frowned. There had been no warning that an attack was coming. Probably NATO hadn't put a lot of preparation into this operation, but if initial reports were to be believed, then NATO was attack from all directions. Supposedly, a multi-division attack was being launched against Kimp'o International Airport. Another multi-division attack from the south. And an entire corps coming from the west. It was confirmed that the US 3rd Marine Division was moving northwest to cut off supply lines.

"Captain, multiple reports are claiming a combined Japanese-American corps is cutting us off from our XI corps in Incheon."

"I need that phone," said Wung.

"Of course, sir," said the lieutenant passing over the field telephone that was directly linked with other military commands. It had the advantage that the enemy couldn't intercept it unless they tapped into the line, which was possible.

"General, this is Captain Wung. We're being cut off from Incheon… shi (yes)… shi… there is also an American Marine division moving to cut off the North Korean's supply line... what shall I tell Colonel Ping? … I understand, I must go."

"Orders for my commander, sir?" asked the lieutenant.

Wung nodded. "The enemy is moving into the Gwanak, Seocho, and Geumcheon Wards (3) if reports are to be believed. The general wants your commander to move the 300th Motor-Rifle Regiment to meet the enemy."

"Shi, captain."

Captain Wung went to speak with Colonel Senior Jiang.

"Ah, Captain Wung. I was just going to send for you," said Colonel Senior Jiang looking up from his breakfast. It was a modest meal of rice, small dried and salted fish, and green black tea.

"Colonel, I apologized for interrupting your meal. First, I also wish to congratulate your official promotion to Colonel Senior," said Wung with a salute. Jiang was originally a colonel in charge of the 56th Armor Regiment of the 70th Infantry Division until his superior was killed in an enemy attack. 70th was the largest combat force in the IV Corps comprising of seven regiments including one armored regiment, two motor-rifle regiments, and four infantry regiments.

"Xiexie. It took them a while, but I got it. I need this request sent to Beijing for the new digital camouflage and I was hoping you, being the son of a Central Committee member, may have some leverage," said Jiang heading the captain the form.

"Of course, sir. But we have more pressing matters," said Wung urgently.

"Shi?"

"NATO is attacking."

"Where?" asked Jiang calmly. He knew panic was something he could not afford to do. He must act rationally.

"Almost every direction. Little of this is confirmed, but we have a corps sized group coming from the east. It's probably South Korean, they have most of their military in the province east of Seoul. There is another corps sized group attack Kimp'o. We can't identify them yet. The last group is just starting to attack the south part of the city. I've just relayed an order to 300th Regiment to move to engage."

"I would have preferred to have given that order."

"Time is of the essence," said Wung with an apologetic bow. "The last group is made up of companies attacking in a very spread out formation. Some snipers report seeing units insignias of different regiments."

"Come, we go to the command room," said Colonel Senior Jiang leading to a small room with a plot map of the city. NCOs manning the radios were keeping junior officers updated with information. The officers were moving small model tanks, artillery pieces, and tanks that represented real units around the map.

"This southern attack is probably much larger than it appears," said Jiang pointing to small figures representing a few companies. "There way too spread and too few in numbers out to face off against numbers of troops here in Seoul. Shi (yes), they must be scouts for a much larger body. That or they're advancing so quickly they are getting spread out."

"Colonel," said a junior lieutenant (4) on a phone. "We have identified one company as American Army 54th Infantry Division and two more companies as Japanese Army 2nd Armor Division."

"Heh, of course the Japs are attacking. Their 6th Division is probably somewhere ouit there, they usually operate close by to their 2nd Armor. Prepare the entire division for mobilization. Get an Air Force UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) airborne and giving me as much information as possible," ordered Jiang sharply.

"But Colonel, Colonel General Xiao ordered our planes grounded until the storm passes," protested the lieutenant.

"Xiao is an Army commander. I'm sure our friends in the Air Force would prefer not to told when they can and can't fly by the Army," said Jiang picking up the phone. UAVs were expensive, but it was a lot cheaper to replace a UAV than train a pilot. Major General Shui was an aggressive People's Liberation Army Air Force officer, he would love a reason to defy Xiao's orders and do something, even if it was only an unmanned recon drone.

* * *

**0814 Hours; November 19****th****, 2010; Gwanak Ward, Seoul; Seoul National Capitol Area, Republic of Korea**

"SSgt. Asou, covering fire!" shouted Lt. Urashima.

They were at the Seoul National University. Like most of the Gwanak Ward, it was on the northern slops of Mt. Gwanak that decended into the massive metropolis of Seoul.

The KPAGF were counter-attacking the advancing Japanese. 5th squad was deployed to defend 4th and 6th squads as they tried to flank the hostile infantry. Two Type 89 IFVs were supporting 2nd platoon.

"This is Echo 4-0, requesting reinforcements, over," said Lt. Urashima as North Koreans charged. "There is KPA infantry and light armor, more coming. Five, do you read me, over?!"

"This is Yoroi Uma Five, 4-1. An American company is inbound. ETA 3 minutes, out."

"This is 4-0 to 2nd platoon. Friendlies are on the way in a few minutes. Hold until they arrive, out."

Harima was carefully aimed and fired at a KPAGF officer. The officer fell over, but was too far away to see if he was dead. Harima was lying in the prone position with the fire team. KPA soldiers were determined to push them back up the slopes.

"I think these might be their elite soldiers," said Kitsumori as he struggled to repel the onslaught of North Koreans. Although the enemy wasn't as well armed as NATO or the Chinese, they were using much better tactics and weren't mindlessly charging.

"They still don't have a chance," said Hanai. "We have the high ground and better cover."

Four BMP-2s rolled around a building and dismounted squads of soldiers.

"Okay that isn't good," said Hanai seeing the APCs. "Harima!"

"On it," said Harima pulling out his AT4 and releasing the safety. "Clear the back blast."

Jupei moved so that she wouldn't be caught in burst of hot air from AT4. Harima fired an AT rocket which struck a BMP and exploded. The Soviet built APC was not destroyed, but it was totally crippled and unusable.

A BMP-2 fired a its 9K111 Bassoon (5), also known by its NATO reporting name the AT-4 Spigot, at one of the Japanese Type 89 IFVs. The wire-guided anti-tank missile blasted the turret right off the IFV. In response the second Type 89 fired both of its Type 79 Jyu-MAT wire-guided missiles (6) at two of the BMP-2s. One missile hit a BMP, but the second malfunctioned and didn't launch.

PKA soldiers armed with RPG-7s destroyed the last Japanese IFV.

"There goes all our armor," shouted Kurosaki. "How long until reinforcements?!"

"2 minutes!" shouted Asou over the incoming fire from the two BMPs.

"I feel the ground shaking!" said Fujiwara.

"Earthquake?" asked Abarai.

"Iē, I think we have a tank coming," said Mori. "Keep your heads down."

A PKAGF T-62 medium tank rolled up the slopes along the same path the BMPs had used. Hanai was loading a sabot into the AT4. Harima fired and the rocket hit the front of the tank. The rocket deflected off the thick heavy armor that was angled to cause projectiles to bounce. This seemed to attract the attention of the gunner who turned the 115mm gun to face Harima.

"Run!" screamed Harima who pulled Jupei and Kitsumori to their feet. Hanai was already up and helped Harima. A few seconds later a 115mm shell exploded a few meters short of their previous position. The blast caught Harima and sent him flying. He balled up and rolled when he hit the ground to avoid serious injury.

"Come on Kenji," said Kitsumori grabbing Harima and half dragging him, half helping him to his feet.

A soldier in 4th squad fired an AT4 at the T-62 from the right flank and struck it in its track. Although the tank was unable to move, the turret was still fully functional.

"Set up here," said Hanai diving into a sunken walkway with concrete walls. Kitsumori set up his M-60E4 on the wall. Hanai was loading another rocket into the AT4 while Harima sat on one knee with the AT4 resting on his shoulder. Jupei was trying to keep the others covered.

2nd platoon was now giving ground. They had no armor and the enemy had two APCs and a medium tank plus an entire company of infantry.

"T-55 incoming," shouted someone in 4th squad. An old T-55 medium tank was barreling up hill and fired its 100mm gun which exploded in the building behind 5th squad raining glass and bricks on them.

"Fire," shouted Hanai.

Harima raised the AT4. Took careful aim at the point where the turret met the chasse, a weak spot on any tank. He prepared to fire. Then the tank exploded.

"What the fuck?" said a stunned Harima. He hadn't fired yet.

He heard the high pitch whirl of a gas-turbine engine. Harima was aware of only one tank that used those. A US Army M1A2 Abram heavy tank with the urban combat kit was creeping up on the North Koreans' left flank. The Abrams used gas-turbine engines because they were more difficult to hear coming than the more common diesel-turbines.

"And that's what makes America great," said Fujiwara quoting what so many Americans said.

The T-55 popped its smoke dischargers, but the Abram was faster. It put a 120mm HEAT through the side of the medium tank and blew it up as the smoke fell. The Abram's gunner turned on his thermal vision which revealed the enemies retreating under the cover of the smokescreen.

Japanese soldiers cheered upon seeing their relief. A platoon of US infantry was leapfrogging across the campus to the north side. A couple of M113A2 Garvins with M2 .50 cals, provided heavy machine fire and slowly advance with the GIs. The Abram fired at one of the BMP-2s. The shell went high and destroyed a dormitory behind the BMP. The BMP fired its 30mm auto-cannon uselessly at the American heavy tank until an American soldier with a SMAW silenced it.

"2nd platoon, advance," ordered Lt. Urashima who was already on his feet and searching for the American CO.

He spotted an older man with two silver bars on his collar.

"Are you in charge, captain," asked Lt. Urashima.

"Yeah, I'm Captain Hoffman, Bravo Company. We got this kid. You reorganize while we clean house," said Captain Hoffman.

"Understood," said Urashima. He would have preferred to do it himself, but Hoffman looked to be 15 or 20 years older and two ranks above him.

A second Abram rolled through the campus with a couple of Garvins trailing it. Half an hour later, Echo Company had gathered in the University campus and was trying to make contact with their superiors. Dogwood and Foxglove Companies were clearing the road ahead while E Company reorganized.

"Yoroi Uma Six, Echo Leader, we have seized objective Sierra-November-Uniform. I repeat, we have secured objective Sierra-November-Uniform, over," said Captain Hitsugaya trying to reach Colonel Hojo. So far he'd been unsuccessful.

"Request permission to move onto objective Golf-November-Tango, over," said Hitsugaya. He checked his watch. If he didn't hear from Six by 0900, he would have to move for the Seoul National Beltway. The British further east were going to drive up the beltway to Kimp'o and the 6th Infantry were supposed to make sure the KPA couldn't use the beltway to plow through their rear.

Toyotomi was listening to NATO communications and trying to get a bead on what was happening.

"Okay, it sounds like the French are being bogged down by a huge KPA counter-attack. The British have just hit the enemy front lines and are starting to break through. Sounds like our boys and girls in the 10th Infantry have just seized the interception of interstate 15 and 101 outside of Incheon," said Toyotomi.

"Good," said Captain Hitsugaya looking over a map of the Seoul National Capitol Region. "If they hold then our rear is safe from PLA attacks out of Incheon."

"Can the Air Force destroy this bridge?" asked 1st Lt. Matsumoto pointing to a highway bridge that connected the island Incheon International Airport was on with the mainland.

"Negative, the South Koreans won't let us."

"But they have six divisions on that island. We could trap them there and then our troops and the Americans could seize Incheon easily," protested Matsumoto.

"I know, but it's not my decision."

"Sir," called a radioman in 6th squad, "South Korean 1st Armor Division took Kuri and are positioning to attack the Gwangjin and Jungnung Wards (7). No word on the US 3rd Marine Division."

"Arigato," said Captain Hitsugaya.

"Sir, an American UAV has sighted a regiment of infantry and armor moving across the Han and into Dongjak Ward," said Toyotomi.

"Call the Air Force and have them deal with them," ordered Hitsugaya. The 81st Heliborne/Armor Regiment would have to take the Dongjak Ward before the day was over. He didn't want to face a fresh regiment.

"Sir, the Air Force is grounded," said Toyotomi. "Winds are too high and visibility at their operating altitudes is too low."

"Just when you need them," he grumbled. It wasn't even snowing yet. Sure visibility was down to 300m, but that shouldn't ground pilots, should it? Hitsugaya wasn't a pilot so he couldn't judge it as well as them, but he felt a mix of abandonment and vulnerability at having no air cover. At least the PLAAF and KPAF won't be flying either.

"Captain, we just ID'ed that regiment," shouted the 6th squad radioman. "It's a Chinese regiment!"

"But how?" asked Matsumoto weakly. "They would've had to have been waiting for us."

There was no possible way for a regiment to have driven up the Incheon International Airport Expressway, north up the 101 interstate and across the Han River, then southeast down the Route 398 into downtown Seoul, and finally south across the Han again and into the Dongjak Ward. The whole trip would be over 110km in a long winding route that would take them in a wide circle to the northwest side of Seoul. A tank of any appreciative weight couldn't travel faster than 30km/h, 40 on really well built roads, on a highway or it would tear up the asphalt and make it impassible to trucks. Even accounting for error, the whole trip would take over 4 hours. It wouldn't have been possible. The Chinese weren't given any warning of this attack and Interstate 101 was strafed by USAF A-10 Thunderbolt-IIs and F-15E Strike Eagles earlier that day.

"The US is marking those Chinese for an artillery strike."

"Ask them if they can do a flyover of center of the city," said Hitsugaya.

"Understood, sir," said Toyotomi.

* * *

**0831 Hours; November 19****th****, 2010; USS Tuatha de Danaan, 300km off the coast of China; Yellow Sea, International Waters**

"You two understand the implications of this mission?" asked Colonel Shinhachi.

"Of course," said Lt. Colonel Solomon.

"It's not that hard to understand," said Lt. Colonel Maiwald.

"Very good, because I'm only taking you two and no one else," said Shinhachi folding his figures together under his noise, obscuring his mouth. "You understand that this is a black ops mission. Unlike our operations in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, or Panama, we can never speak of this assignment to anyone. No records of this assignment are to exist. This conversation never happened and this briefing does not exist, nor will this mission have ever happened."

* * *

**0815 Hours; November 19****th****, 2010; Sasebo Naval Base, Sasebo; Nagasaki Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

"So this is one of your missile boats," said US 7th Fleet Commander, Admiral Samuel Benson, looking at a large nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine. It's sail (8), like on all US boats, were aft of the vertical-launch missile tubes. Unlike a US or British boomer sub, there wasn't a hump from where the tall missiles being fitted inside. It was much larger than an attack boat, but that was to be expected. She was sleek, covered in a non-metallic coating that absorbed small active sonar waves and helped sound-proof noises from inside the subs. She was propelled by a large single propeller.

"Yes, Admiral. She is JFS Tenkushio, SSBN-17. She was the third of the Ryūsen Class nuclear-powered fleet ballistic missile submarine," said Chief of Staff of the Federal Navy, Admiral Mizuryū Chidori, who was present. She was not enjoying putting her most well kept secrets on display for a group of American and British officers. "There are 8 of these subs. We have never kept them in a port like Sasebo, but I have made plans to transfer them to Yokosuka, Sasebo, Kure, Maizuru, and Ominato. Are secret bases are too hard to keep secret and it would be much easier to maintain these boats in our major yards."

"What's she armed with?" asked a British captain.

"She carries 20 Shuntensatsu (Instant Heaven Kill) inter-continental ballistic missiles. We have no nuclear warheads, but this is based off the launch systems for the American Trident missiles. Our warheads are propane-air-fueled thermobaric warheads that have similar firepower to a tactical nuke. We have another missile similar to the Soviet Seahawk missile, it breaks up into smaller warheads, but showers the enemy with fuel bombs," said Mizuryū proudly bragging about Japan's innovations in the field of non-nuclear superweapons. "We also have a delivery system that holds multiple cruise missiles. You don't know it, but we've used them several times in the course of this war. Our Ryūsen Class is good at being undetected and they make excellent platforms for Tomahawks or Harpoons."

"Yes, our Navy is looking into that so our Ohio Class can be used for more conventional purposes," said Rear Admiral JG Bae, commander of the Montana group.

Vice Admiral Helen Chang, commander of the West Pacific Command's submarine fleet, was quietly observing and drinking in every aspect of the sub. It was a very streamline sub. She judged it was able to make maybe 18kt silent, which would be a very high speed for a silent run on a boomer. The propeller seemed similar to an Ohio Class, but that was probably so that if here attack boats ever detected these missile subs, they would mistake the blade noises for the Ohio.

"Is this your only boomer class?" asked Chang.

"No, there is the older Sōgi-ya-shio, but only two of them are left. When the last four of our Tenkushios are completed, the last Sōgi-ya-shios will be decommissioned."

Mizuryū led the procession deeper into the Japanese submarine pen in Sasebo. Much of the facility was unused until recently. Now the Japanese we bringing in their subs.

"This is our Sameshio Class nuclear-powered attack submarine," said Mizuryū pointing to a smaller sub in its pen. It was thinner and shorter than the Tenkushio Class, had 12 vertical-launch tubes for cruise missiles, mainly anti-ship. It also had six 533mm tubes for torpedoes. According to Mizuryū, the Sameshio had a top speed of 45kt, much faster than any American sub. She would not give its top silent speed.

"As you can see, these subs were meant for Japanese crews, and we're generally shorter people than Westerners," said Mizuryū taking the Americans and British into the JSF Maguroshio, SSN-71. Some of the Americans banged their heads on pipes and vents. The taller of the officers were forced to double-over. Mizuryū merely had to bend her knees a little and walked gracefully.

"This is a control room on our Sameshio Class. Most of our recent boats have similar control rooms," said Admiral Mizuryū. In truth the subs made before the year 2000 had these kinds of control rooms, or conns as they were called by submariners. The Maguroshio was actually going to get new systems and some of this equipment would be scraped.

Admiral Mizuryū was walking back to her car after giving a tour of their submarine pens. The Navy had to make their sub classes, which they had hidden from the world for decades, known to their NATO allies. Once inside the car, she ordered her driver to take her to the drydocks for capitol ships. She went in to inspect the repairs on the Sutsuru. The master chief in charge of this dock promised he'd have this carrier in service by January at the latest, but he was confident he'd have it ready by December. In the next drydock, the JFS Shōwa was almost ready to be put to sea, but it would be another month before he would be launched.

"A few months ago, I was the commander of a mass of destroyers and frigates," she said to her aide. "Now, I'm probably one of the most women in the world."

Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (9) Kazato Kanaka nodded. She knew her superior was exhausted from endless sleepless days of reorganizing the Federal Navy.

Most of her ships were recalled to home waters and she was busy trying to make sure her fleets could transport Federal Army divisions to Europe if necessary. The war was no longer the Navy's responsibility. The future of Japan's role in NATO was and their ability to respond to a crisis anywhere in the world. Currently she and her command staff and fleet commanders were reading up on Soviet Red Navy's Northern Sea and Baltic Fleets. They had discussed endlessly on how quickly they could transport 5 divisions to France. Officers in the Army were mostly concerned with the war at hand, but some were over in Germany and Kosovo where the Iron Curtain that divided the USSR and NATO was. They were already putting in orders for darker green and brown flecktarn (10) camouflage uniforms, which were nearly identical to the German's flecktarn, better suited for Central Europe or the Balkan Peninsula. Some Federal Air Force pilots were already flying air patrols in Kosovo, Turkey, and Germany.

"How are things in Korea?" asked Mizuryū.

"I understand the attack on Seoul just started. The Army doesn't sound happy about it though. They get command of southern trust and no time to prepare," admitted Kazato.

"Maybe we can help them a little. Contact the Kaishio, tell them to 'Change the course of the south wind'," said Admiral Mizuryū before slumping in her seat and getting a short nap before she boarded a plane to Central HQ at Tokyo.

* * *

**0900 Hours; November 19****th****, 2010; Gwanak Ward, Seoul; Seoul National Capitol Area, Republic of Korea**

"Use the armor for cover and advance!" shouted Asou. He was about to shout another order, gut the Abram he was behind fired its main gun which left Asou a little disoriented. A few seconds later the ringing stopped, but not the incoming fire.

2nd platoon, Bravo Company, and an American armor platoon were trying to advance onto a section of Seoul Beltway. They had two Abrams, four Garvins, and four Bradleys. So far they had destroyed five T-55s, eight T-54s, one T-62, eleven BMP-2s, and nobody bothered to keep count of the number of UAZs or Urals they'd destroyed.

"BTRs! 10 O'clock!" shouted Amakasu pointing to two BTR-60PB 8x8 wheeled APCs. Several PKA soldiers were riding on top of the APCs, one was even wielding the blue, white, and red North Korean flag. The slid off the APCs and gathered around the APCs. Harima couldn't understand why they were kneeling in the open until he saw that the soldiers inside the APC had to climb out of one of four hatches on the roof to get out. They were trying to cover their comrades. A TOW missile from an M2A2 Bradley destroyed one of the BTRs, the second retreated after it dropped its soldiers.

The reinforcements ran for their fellows who were holding positions on the highways behind the medians. There were sitting ducks for a mortar strike. 120mm mortars rained down on the KPA. Snow, asphalt, blood, and dirt was kicked into the air by the mix of HE and shrapnel rounds.

"Push for the highway!" shouted Lt. Urashima. He fired a burst of automatic fire with his M-16A5 before charging across a street and reaching the step embankment the beltway was on. 2nd platoon was close behind him and one of the American platoons was on their flank. The embankment was step and the snow and ice made it a difficult climb. They were forced to sling their guns over their shoulders and use both hands to grab at weeds and knots of dead grass. Some soldiers lost their footing and slid back down, sometimes colliding with the people behind them.

The tanks and APCs were forced to drive 400m east to an on ramp. Then incline was too step and too high for vehicles to scale. The other two of the American platoons escorted their armor.

Harima finally reached the top of the embankment. He felt the thrill of having finally scaled the slope, but fear for what was beyond. He peaked cautiously over the concrete barrier. Harima ducked down quickly. A North Korean had his AK-47 aimed at the barrier, but was taken surprise by Harima's sudden appearance. It was enough to give Harima time to duck before 7.62x39mm rounds ricocheted off the barrier.

Harima stuck his gun over the barrier and fired blind. The shooting stopped, but Harima doubted it was he'd hit the guy. This was confirmed when Harima heard the metallic sliding noise of a bolt be cocked. The KPAGF soldier just reloading.

An American soldier reached the top. He looked at Harima who was hugging the concrete barrier for protection. Their eyes met and a non-verbal understanding was reached. The carefully moved away from Harima. While the KPA soldier had his attention on Harima's position, the American stood up and fired two shots. One hit the man in the chest, and the second hit him in the neck. The man crumpled on the ground.

"Clear!" called the American.

"Clear!" agreed Harima in his best English.

Yamako and Kurosaki managed to reach the top. While Harima and the American scanned for more enemies, Yamako and Kurosaki secured a rope for the others to aid them in their struggle.

"Lieutenant, wha'd you think?" asked an American 2nd lieutenant who was leading the platoon.

"I think we'll have to cross this road eventually," said Lt. Urashima. "I'll send one of my squads first."

"Be my guest."

"6th squad, get to the other side and hold."

"Hai," said 6th squad leader. They climbed over the barrier and crossed the three-lane east bound side of the beltway. They then climbed over the median and crossed the lanes for west bound traffic.

A few minutes later they walked east to join up with the tanks.

"This is Echo 4-0," said Lt. Urashima speaking into the microphone of Toyotomi's radio. "Come in Six, over."

Static.

"Yoroi Uma Five, are you there, over?"

Static, and then. "… This is Five, go ahead 4-0," said the voice of Lt. Colonel Daijin.

"Five, we have secured objective Golf-November-Tango. We're on grid: Oscar 391, Foxtrot 21, over."

"The 82nd Mech Infantry Regiment is on its way, ETA 40 plus minutes. Hold for them. Foxglove Company is inbound to reinforce you. Yoroi Uma Five, out."

* * *

**0959 Hours; November 19****th****, 2010; JFS Kaishio, 143km southeast of Incheon; Yellow Sea, Republic of Korea**

A hardline phone in the control room buzzed. Phones on submarines didn't ring because it would make more noise than people were willing to risk.

"This is conn (control room)," said Captain Zakurai Seiji answering the phone suspended from bulkhead. Zakurai was commander of the Japanese ballistic missile submarine Kaishio (fire current). A former attack boat skipper, he had accepted a promotion from commander to captain (11) and was placed in command of what amounted to a pipe with 20 ballistic missiles and a nuclear reactor.

"Conn, this is radio. We picked up a singled to move to periscope depth to receive an in coming message," said a chief petty officer in the radio room.

"Hai," said Zakurai. "Okay, Petty Officer Shino, take us to 76m."

"Aye, skipper."

Petty Officer 1st Class Shino slowly and gently took the Kaishio up to periscope level. He didn't rush for fear of creating hull popping noises as they pumped out water from the ballast tanks which could be heard by passive sonar.

"Sonar, conn. Are we clear?"

"Aye, sir. No contacts on passive," said a woman in the sonar room.

"Keep listening, we're going to be here until we get a message."

Submarines at their normal operating depths couldn't receive messages. They could get faint signals. They knew this was a signal to prepare for an incoming message that would be too complex for the simple signals that could reach a sub at their current depth.

"Plains to zero at 76m, skipper," said the plains-man, the submariner responsible for controlling the change in depth of the sub. The flanks-man was responsible for turning the sub.

"Ii desu," said Captain Zakurai. They waited for half an hour before a satellite signal reached them. They raised the antenna and a small, dense signal fed into the antenna.

Zakurai left the control room and made his way down a narrow corridor to the nearby radio room. The ensign in the room ripped the teletype message out of the printer and handed to the captain.

'To: Kaishio

From: Central HQ; FEDNAVYCOS (Federal Navy Chief of Staff)

Change the course of the south wind. Rules of the Engagement: Sierra 1.'

Zakurai smiled and uttered one word. "Finally."

He picked up the hard line phone and pressed the button for the control room. "Skipper to conn. Dive to 190m. Be careful, we will be skimming the bottom (12). Set course for 7kt and reduce reactor power to the minimal for silent operations. Tell the cooks to not use the stove. I want no noise from their pots or pans (13). Tell them to make sandwiches or something. I want crew to avoid walking around and avoid closing doors. Understand?"

"Aye, Captain. What's our destination?"

"Incheon."

* * *

**1008 Hours; November 19****th****, 2010; Intersection of Route-1 and Seoul National Beltway, Seoul; Seoul National Capitol Area, Republic of Korea**

82nd Mechanized Infantry Regiment was advancing up Route-1 now that elements of the 81st Helibourne/Armor Regiment and the US 210th Armored Calvary Regiment had secured the Beltway.

Brigadier General Akesaka Michie, commander of the 14th Reserved Mobile Infantry Brigade, putting the 81st in reserve while the 82nd pushed for the Han River. The 84th Heavy Assault Infantry Regiment was pushing through the middle of the Dongjak Ward.

The American UAV was shot down and gave little information. They knew there was a Chinese regiment ahead, but they didn't know an entire division in their path to the Han. They also didn't know a PLAAF UAV was circling overhead. Or that a Lt. General Hei Tang was watching small dots and larger boxes, which were infantry and armor, from a TV on his desk. Who ever said 'what you don't know won't hurt you', clearly never experienced war.

* * *

I know it took me a while to finish this chapter and I apologize. I've had a lot to do and I'm graduating from high school tomorrow, so I'm a little busy. Once that's over, I don't have a lot of plans until this August, when I have to go to report to Hamilton College.

Damn, I'm so tired. I think I'll be sleeping for the next few days. It may be a little bit before the next chapter is up.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. Rifle is the NATO Brevity Code word used for when an AGM-65 Maverick anti-tank missile.

2. Reflex sights or reflex scopes (commonly known as 'red-dot sights') are used increasingly more commonly in NATO nations and their allies. Most reflex scopes are non-telescoping, meaning they cannot zoom in or out. They work by refracting a red LED light into the middle of the scope. The bright red light naturally catches the human eye's attention and is proven to be more effective than a conventional iron sight. They also have the advantage of not being visible to other people unlike laser pointers which can be seen in fog, must, dust and/or sand storms, rain, and by nightvision goggles. In recent years, telescoping reflex scopes have been made available for snipers and riflemen.

3. The Gwanak, Seocho, and Geumcheon Wards are three of 11 districts that make up Seoul on the south side of the Han River. There are a total of 25 wards in Seoul, but the other 14 are on the north side of the Han. It is Seocho is considered one of the nicest wards in Seoul and is home to the international community in Seoul. Gwanak is home to Seoul National University and is situated on a low mountain called Gwanak-san, or Mt. Gwanak. Not a lot of information is available to me on Geumcheon, but it appears to be a nice area of Seoul and has a number of subway and commuter rail lines meeting in the ward.

4. Junior Lieutenant is a rank in the People's Liberation Army and Soviet Red Army. It is the lowest officer rank in both militaries. There is no US equivalent, but it is lower than a US Army, Marine Corps, and Air Force 2nd lieutenant or a US Navy ensign.

5. The 9K111 Bassoon, or AT-4 Spigot as its called in NATO, is a Soviet wire-guided anti-tank weapon similar in use to the TOW missiles used by the United States. The Spigot is a fairly common weapon and is either mounted on a stand of some kind or on a vehicle. The Spigot is commonly mounted on the BMP, BTR, and BMD armored personnel carriers. It fires a 120mm rocket that has a range of 70m to 2km, but it reaches the end of the guidance wire after 11 seconds. Velocity of the missile is 186m/s.

6. The Type 79 Jyu-MAT wired-guided missile is loosely based on the American TOW missiles, but was intended to destroyed amphibious troop or vehicle carriers like LCUs. It's missile has a velocity of 200m/s and it's range is not mentioned, but it's probably pretty far if it was intended to destroyed landing craft before they reach shore.

7. The Gwangjin and Jungnung Wards are wards on the east side of Seoul, north of the Han River.

8. When you're talking about a submarine, the sail is the tower like object that on a most NATO submarines are forward the missile tubes. On some submarine boomer subs, the sail is rear of the missile tubes. Also a missile boat is an alternative nickname for a boomer sub because its purpose is to fire missiles, namely ICBMs. Attack submarines are called hunter subs or attack boats because they usually take on the rolls of hunting other subs or attacking surface ships.

9. Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON) is a rank in the United States Navy. He or she is like Fleet Master Chief Petty Officer (FLTCM) or Command Master Chief Petty Officer (CMDCM). CMDCM is an aide to a ship commander. FLTCM is an aide to a battle fleet commander or fleet commander. MCPON is the highest NCO rank in the US Navy and is the personnel aide to the Chief of Staff of the Navy. There is only one MCPON at any given time. The closest rank to MCPON in the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces is Warrant Officer.

10. In previous chapters I called the camouflage style used by the Germans and Japanese as leopard style camouflage because I didn't know its real name. It's real name is Flecktarnmuster, German for pattern camouflage, it is also called flecktarn for short. It is used by the Bundeswehr and Japanese Self-Defense Forces. Although just as effective as the Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP), it is not as popular because it remains some people of the old Waffen SS combat uniforms from World War II. There is no evidence to sustain it was purposeful.

11. Attack submarines are commanded by a Commander. Because ballistic missile submarines are armed with nuclear warheads, most navies feel a higher ranking officer needs to be in command. Missile boats are commanded by a Captain.

12. The Yellow Sea, for submariners, is shallow. It is roughly 200 meters (656 feet) deep. Captain Zakurai is asking his plains-man to take the sub to nearly the bottom.

13. Believe or not, a good passive sonar system with trained technicians can hear noises from inside another submarine. This is the biggest weakest of nuclear-powered submarines, the steam-turbine can be heard. The kitchen is another noisy place, a metal pan or pot on a stove makes noise that can be heard. Ballast tanks, doors being opened or closed, and torpedo and missile tubes being flooded can be heard. Under the right circumstances, voices can be heard underwater. You can't tell what's being said, but the voices can be heard.


	56. Chapter 56: Marching Blind as a Family

And the battle continues

And the battle continues. The North Koreans after years of dreaming marching through the streets of Seoul. Does any believe the Korean People's Army, who don't acknowledge the existence of the Republic of Korea or their government, would roll over for a superior NATO force? I didn't think so.

I also found out there is a logic to the way the Japanese named their military equipment and weapons. The number refers to the year it was introduced into service. For instances, the Type 89 assault rifle was introduced into service in the Japanese Self-Defense Forces in 1989. The future Type 10 medium tank is to enter service in 2010. As far as I can tell, the Chinese do not name their equipment the same way.

If it interests any of you, the Japanese Air Self-Defense Forces are working on a prototype stealth fighter being made by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. It's called the ATD-X and is called by the Japanese the Shin Shin (one's mind). From the computer generated picture it looks like an F-15 Eagle with influences from the F-22 Raptor. Japanese have scheduled its maiden flight for June 14, 2016.

I have graduated high school. Now I need to find something to occupy my time with… oh yeah, I can write…

Senator Barack Obama won the Democratic Party nomination. In case some of you haven't noticed the 'subtle' jokes I make about Clinton, then you probably haven't guessed I voted for Obama. Not because he's a man or he's black, because I agree with his message about unity. Also, McCain and Clinton were morons to talk about a 'gas tax vacation'. My dad use to work in the US Treasury Department and he explained to me in detail on why it would not effect gas prices. In fact it would probably benefit the oil companies more than us. Long story short, DEMOCRATS UNITE AND VOTE OBAMA!

I apologize in advance because this chapter like most of the others are not really that well proofread.

I don't own any trademarked or copywrite item. Please review and/or tell a friend.

* * *

**Chapter 56: Marching Blind as a Family**

"You can't do this, it's a free country," said an indigent suspect.

"No, it's a democracy, and the majority of the people have decided they don't like what you're doing," said an unimpressed Detective Tutuola

A quote from Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

**1145 Hours; November 19****th****, 2010; Dongjak Ward, Seoul; Seoul National Capitol Area, Republic of Korea**

"What's going on up ahead?" asked Lt. Urashima to Captain Hitsugaya.

Hitsugaya shook his head, "I don't know. I can't reach anyone in the 82nd."

They could hear explosions erupting ahead. The noises sounded like tank and artillery fire. Nobody could tell who was shooting or who was winning. Snow was falling and visibility was now barely 100m. The 81st Heliborne/Armor Regiment was trying to keep warm and running endless scenarios through their heads. They knew there was a Chinese regiment ahead. They knew one of their regiments was engaging them. They knew that another Japanese regiment was slowly clearing a ward of KPAGF soldiers. They knew several American and Japanese units were holding for orders. That was all they knew.

Too little information was available.

NATO division, brigade, and regiment commanders were annoyed they were ordered to strike when a blizzard was descending on them. Fog, snow, and thick clouds made UAV, recon planes, and recon satellites useless, and the attack had been put together too quickly for any intelligence to be assembled. They were charging in blind in more ways than one.

For these reasons, brigade commanders were reluctant to commit all their regiments.

"Got anything?" asked Asou. Toyotmoi had been trying to see if he could find and listen in to the communication between the 82nd Mechanized Infantry Regiment.

"Iē," he said adjusting the dials. "I've got something… no it's not the 82nd."

The transmissions were in French. It was probably the attack on Kimp'o. Nobody, not even Lt. Urashima, spoke French so it was not clear what was being said. There was more chatter in a language they didn't recognize, which was Flemish (1). They finally found a Turkish channel which Lt. Urashima listened to.

"They're saying the French have punched a hole in the KPA lines on Seoul National Beltway and are pushing for Kimp'o International. The Belgians are under a huge counter-attack. It sounds like the British are bypassing the others and are setting up defensive lines near the bridges over the Han at their end."

"Where are the Germans?" asked Asou. The Germans had played a huge role so far, but were absent from this battle.

"They're in reserve with the Albanians, Greeks, and Italians."

"I bet they hate that," Harima muttered to Hanai with a laugh.

"I'll bet," nodded Hanai with a slight grin.

"Sure is cold," said Jupei as she poked at the small fire they had started to keep warm.

It was maybe -7 Celsius (19.4 Fahrenheit). Snow was falling at a steady rate. Tall buildings and skyscrapers were shielding them from most of the wind, but gusts found their way down the streets on occasion and blasted them with a wall of loss snow.

"You kids should really be wearing scarves," said Mori wrapping synthetic wool army issue scarves around their necks.

* * *

**1155 Hours; November 19****th****, 2010; US General O'Grady's Office, Yokohama; Kanagawa Prefecture, Republic of Korea**

'Marines? We're sending our Marines to charge into a series of highways with multiple armor regiments holding it?' wondered General O'Grady.

The United States Marine Corps, despite common belief, were not trained to engage a heavily armed conventional military. They also were not trained to be an occupation force, which was apparently not clear to anyone until the invasion of Iraq. Marines were seaborne stormtroopers, infantry that were trained and lightly armed for rapid assaults. The true role of the USMC was to provide security US Navy warships, naval bases and yards, US embassies and consulates, and similar security tasks for the Navy because the Marine Corps is official part of the United States Navy and has its officer training school at the Annapolis Naval Academy. Their true combat role was to take advantage of their maneuverability and seize beaches or punch holes in the enemy lines for the more heavily armed Army.

A Marine division got four M1A1 Abrams and roughly eight armor personnel carriers. The 3rd Marine Division was already was the smallest of the four marine divisions in the Corps. It didn't seem like a smart idea to O'Grady to send the marines into a battle that would force them into slow maneuvering warfare, especially against large numbers of tanks.

He had sent out an order to recall the marines. O'Grady had other plans for them.

He picked up his coffee. It was stone cold.

It was freezing in the Yokohama base. The US had originally been based in Yokosuka, but the Japanese had requested it be returned to them (2). It wasn't really clear why the Japanese wanted Yokosuka, but in the end the Japanese allowed the US to build a new base in the port city of Yokohama. Construction was started in late 2007 and was finished 2009, but problems still plague the base, such as the heating be out. The transition to this base was slow, but finally completed in February 2010.

The new location did put them deeper in Tokyo Bay and much closer to Yokota Air Force Base and a series of smaller USAF bases in western Tokyo Prefecture. This meant the Navy and Army would have better air cover and faster responses from the Air Force. The only Japanese gained a fully functional naval base that could service capitol ships and a base at the entrance of Tokyo Bay. The Japanese now had total control of who came in and out of Tokyo Bay.

O'Grady didn't mind he was kicked out of their old base, but he wished the fucking heating didn't break down in the middle of November. He got up and left his office, dumping his coffee in the trash as he went.

Outside his office, a car was waiting to take him to the Japanese Federal Armed Forces Central Headquarters.

Another advantage to the Yokohama base was that it cut the distance traveled in half. Yokohama was on the edge of the Tokyo Prefecture and the outskirts of the city of Tokyo. The car took him over the Tama-gawa (Tama River) which divided the Kanagawa and Tokyo Prefectures. After winding their way through traffic they found themselves at the Federal Central HQ. This too was a fairly new building and it was under massive construction to add new offices for the huge increase in size and operations of the Japanese military. They were roughly between the Japanese Federal Diet Assembly Building and the Japanese Federal Supreme Court Building. Also not too far north was the Imperial Palace, home of the Emperor of Japan.

He walked pass several security checkpoints, he'd been here so often the guards knew him and his staff on sight. He arrived at the office of Chief of Staff General Kobayashi.

"Ah, Michael. To what do I owe this pleasure?" asked General Kobayashi.

"Korea, Jin. The attack on Seoul is going to be a fiasco, and I was in Iraq for a few months," sighed General O'Grady sitting in a high wingtip leather chair. Kobayashi passed a small porcelain cup containing sake. O'Grady accepted the cup and downed it in one gulp.

"I have been informed by my field commander, Lt. General Honnoji, that our forces are not enthusiastic about his attack," commented Kobayashi.

"The Limeys (3) are trying to put a line of defense between the North Koreans and the Belgians and French. That's about the closet thing to a plan I've heard all day," said O'Grady filling up his cup.

"I have faith in my officers and NCOs," said Kobayashi.

"Since we don't know what the hell is going on, I guess we have to," said the American. Honnoji chuckled a little as he refilled his own cup. "I don't suppose you have scotch?"

"I prefer sake or rice wine over Western alcohols," said Kobayashi. Truthfully, Western alcohols like ale or whiskey was a little too strong for him. Asians tended to have lower tolerances than Westerners, especially Russians or Irish who were known as notorious drinkers (4).

"I've been getting calls from Washington," said O'Grady putting down his cup.

"What are they saying?"

"To start pulling some brigades out of Korea and prep them for action against the Soviets."

"Ah," nodded Kobayashi, "the Prime Minster and the Diet are both very concerned about the… uh what you call them… Ivan? Well, they are worried that Ivan are going to attack Hokkaido. It would be a very appealing target for them. It would allow them to invade Honshu and seize the Imperial Capitol (5)."

"Washington shares your concerns. Of course, you people will mostly be on your own. Europe always gets priority over us in the West Pacific."

"That has never been lost to Nihon (Japan). Our forces will be able to handle the Pacific on our own," said Kobayashi.

"But can they fight in Europe? All but four countries in NATO are part of the European Union. Most of our traditional enemies are always in Europe. Odds are that if World War III comes, it starts in Europe. Like us, most of their military are trained to fight in Germany."

Kobayashi nodded. If the Soviet Red Army wanted to invade Western Europe, they would most likely have to invade Germany since it was flatter than the alternative, which would be to strike the Austrian or Italian Alps (6).

Kobayashi had read up on Germany. The eastern lands were flat and rural, so were the northern lands. Most of the country was hilly and covered in thick forests. The western lands had several mines, factories, and valleys with fast flowing rivers, like the Rhine and Ruhr. The southern parts were mountainous, but had a lot of Germany's wheat fields. It didn't look like a good place to have a war, but the Croatian-Italian border was a wall of mountains.

But the real challenge was to come up with an organized plan to transport roughly four divisions to Europe using one or two fleets. It would mean crossing the entire Pacific Oceans and the Atlantic Ocean. From Tokyo to the Panama Canal was 13,523.9km (8,403.4mi). From the Panama Canal to Brest, France, a port on the Breton Peninsula (7), was 8,163.2km (5,072.4mi). From Panama Canal to Liverpool, England, a major port city western England on the Irish Sea, was 8,312.7 (5,165.3mi). From Panama Canal to Antwerp, Belgium, a major port on the North Sea, was 8,811.4km (5,475.2mi). From Panama Canal to Hamburg, Germany, Germany's largest port, was 9,174.4km (5,700.7mi). From Panama Canal to Naples, Italy, one of the largest ports in the Mediterranean Sea, was 9,687.1km (6,019.3mi). 33kt was their slowest ships top speed and that was 61.1km/h. Normal cruising speeds was 15kt (27.8km/h), and 12kt (22.2km/h) when they thought submarines were pursuing.

Crossing the Pacific alone at full speed would take 9 days. Moving a fleet of ships plus amphibs (7), aux ships (auxiliary ships), oilers, refueling vessels, cargo ships, and electronic warfare vessels, through the locks of the Panama Canal would probably take another 2 or 3 days. Crossing the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean would take another 5 days at top speed. Including the time it would take to assemble the ships, supplies, or troops, it would close to a month to get troops to France or England by ship. Kobayashi wondered about buying heavy lifting transport planes like the Lockheed-Martin C-5 Galaxy.

"If your fleets are here, who is in the Atlantic?" asked Kobayashi.

"The US Navy is quite large. We only have half our Pacific Fleet here. The Nimitz and the Reagan with the battleship New Jersey have the North Atlantic covered. The Italians still have most of their navy in the Mediterranean, and the Greeks can provide extra support. The Turks still have the Black Sea covered," explained O'Grady.

"But don't the British normally screen the North Sea? And the Germans and Danes normally patrol the Baltic, right?"

"Germans still have a carrier in home waters. The French have deployed almost their entire navy to the North Sea. They have their carrier, destroyers, frigates, and subsmarines out in force. I wouldn't worry. NATO has had the Atlantic secure for over 60 years."

"Well, as long as were talking about naval strength, the Federal Navy assures me that we will control the Pacific. The Chinese still pose minor threats with their submarines. I think we're in a good position. Though, given some time I'm sure the Chinese or Soviets will develop strategies, they seem good at finding holes given time."

O'Grady nodded, "The Reds are good at that. What do you think about Seoul?"

"Like you said, we have to have faith in our field commanders."

* * *

**1248 Hours; November 19****th****, 2010; Dongjak Ward, Seoul; Seoul National Capitol Area, Republic of Korea**

Jupei and Harima were kicking snow onto the fire to put it out.

Kitsumori and Hanai were shaking snow off their gear.

"E Company! Hurry up!" shouted 1st Lt. Matsumoto.

A minute early, they got orders for the whole regiment to move north and reinforce the 82nd Mech Infantry. Although the 9 companies of the 81st were spread out, they did receive the order and were ready to advance. The problem was they were having difficulty communicating between each other.

"Captain, you think it's the buildings, weather, or jammers?" asked Matsumoto.

"Could be all three," said Captain Hitsugaya looking at the swirl of grayish-white descending upon the Earth. Snow and rain had a tendency to interfere with satellite communications. Tall buildings could literally block both a radio and satellite signals. Jammers, depending on what type being used, could block both radio and satellite signals.

Within four minutes, Echo Company was packed up and moving northward. A platoon from Hollow Company was supporting E Company with their tanks. They had two Type 90 heavy tanks, two new Type 10 medium tanks, and four Type 74 APCs. Some of the squads were stuffed inside the APCs, the rest were riding on top of the armor.

Harima was sitting on top of the turret of a Type 10 with Hanai. Jupei, who was from Hiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture, in the warmer and more humid southern Japan, was clinging close to the exhaust vent on the rear of the tank.

As they got closer to the front they saw more signs of battle. Glass littered the streets and rang with a tinkling noise as the tanks crushed the shards. Some pieces of concrete also were on the ground from stray shells striking buildings. They passed a derelict Type 73 medium tank. A little smoke was coming from a hole in its right side.

Unsurprisingly, bodies were also in the streets. Some were Japanese, but most were KPAGF. As they got closer to the roar of fighting they saw remains of Chinese equipment and soldiers.

"This is Hollow 4-0. A word of advice to all Echo callsigns, you may want to dismount soon cause these things attract a lot of unfriendly attention, over," said a calm female voice.

"Copy that," said Captain Hitsugaya. "Echo, dismount. Echo Leader, out."

Harima slid off the tank and to the street. The snow crunched under his boots. He looked around, then looked again. The mix of snow and wind was creating a similar affect to fog, short range of view and flashlights reflected off of it and in their faces. It was 1320 hours and the storm was upon them.

Harima put on some military issue goggles, similar in appearance to ski goggles, over his eyes. He secured the short scarf over his mouth and noise, then he tucked it in so it wouldn't get caught on something. He also had a ski mask on with a single wide opening that exposed both eyes, bridge of the nosie, and the eyebrows. It was popular among the British and Americans, especially their special forces.

He looked for his squad again. With the goggles keeping the snow out of his eyes, he managed to see the outline of Hanai crouching in a doorway to an office building. Harima jogged over to him and held up his rifle to show he was friendly. Hanai raised a hand in acknowledgement. He had a slightly larger set of goggles to accommodate his glasses underneath.

"Where were you?" asked Hanai through the radio. The ski mask made it too hard to talk without the radio.

"Putting on these goggles. I can't see a fucking thing," complained Harima.

"Neither can I."

Jupei wound her way to them. She was shivering a little from cold. Kitsumori was the last to reach them. He apparently went the wrong way. It actually occurred to Hanai at this moment that he didn't know which way was north. They couldn't see any of the mountains that surrounded Seoul… actually they couldn't even see the roofs of some of buildings around them.

The sounds of fighting in the distance were dying. Probably because they couldn't see who was who anymore.

This was by far the worst storm to hit Seoul. The city in mid-November was normally around 6 degrees Celsius and it didn't normally snow until December or January.

They started moving on foot with the armor crawling along in the street.

"This is Echo Leader, anyone in the 82nd please respond, over."

"… this is Beach Leader. What's your position Echo?"

"We're around: Romeo 89, Quebec 80, over."

"Rodger, you're coming on C Company's rear. I patch you in to them. Beach Leader, out."

"Arigato."

A few seconds later a woman's voice came on the radio. "This is Camel Leader, come in Echo Leader, over."

"Echo Leader, SITREP (situation report), over," requested Captain Hitsugaya.

"There must be an entire brigade coming at us. We've held, but I've lost a lot of men and I can't reach Falcon Leader or Eve Leader. I've hear transmissions between their NCOs and platoon leaders, but nothing from the COs. About you guys?"

"I have one company of infantry and an armor platoon inbound. More coming, but we can't seem to reach the other companies, so I can't coordinate with them, over."

"What's your ETA?"

"Camel Leader, I could standing right next to you and not know it. We can't see a damn thing beyond 80m, over."

"It's just the buildings. The wind is channeling snow down the streets. Once you get more into the open at our position, visibility will be extended 210m, over."

"Understood, we'll be there soon," said Hitsugaya adding 'I hope' in his mind. "Echo Leader, out."

Slowly, visibility was getting better. As the snow had more places to be blown, E Company could see further.

An artillery shell exploded in front of them. Everyone hit the ground and looked around. No follow-through shells came. Hitsugaya figured it was a random shell and led his company on.

Green and red lights told them where the front lines were. With the snow and coloring of the lights it would have made a decent Christmas party if it weren't for the fact those lights were signs of people trying to kill other people… or the occasional explosion.

At 120m they could see the Chinese, beyond that Chinese were only recognizable as dark outlines. The tanks were the easiest to ID because of their large sloping box-like form and the long protruding barrels.

They were in a park. To their right was Chongshin University. Ahead was a neighborhood that was leveled during an air raid. The foothills and mountains in Seoul all sloped towards the wards around the Han-gang. Although the Dongjak Ward was relatively flat, it was still sloped. The Japanese had higher ground than the Chinese.

Harima fired off a shot at a Chinese soldier who fell over after being hit. He then dropped down in the snow between two soldiers from the 37th Light Assault Infantry Battalion who acknowledge him with a grunt.

Harima sent a burst at a group of PLAGF soldiers trying to get behind a fallen tree. He heard a gasp of surprise and clang to his right. A brief glance told him the man next to him was shot in the head and killed. Harima figured before the end of the day this man would be buried under several centimeters of snow.

Jupei saw a large form of Harima and dropped into the prone position next to the man on Harima's left. She raised her Type 89 and fired a burst at a squad of PLA soldiers shielding themselves behind a mound. A rocket screeched over head and she instinctively hugged the Earth. It smashed into a tank behind Jupei, but she could tell how much damage it did. Jupei swept the horizon for the offender. She spotted a soldier with a large cylindrical object mounted on his shoulder. Jupei fired two shots. One hit him in the leg causing him to fall over, the second missed.

Jupei tried to finish him, but her gun jammed. A spent cartridge was still inside the chamber. While she pulled the bolt back to eject, a PLA soldier helped his fallen comrade to safety.

Fujiwara was sitting with her back to a tree while she loaded a fresh clip into her Type 89. She leaned carefully around the tree and saw a PLA soldier with a light machine gun firing at a squad to her right. A three-round burst and he was dead, slumped over his LMG.

A second and third soldier took up the first one's position. Neither one had noticed Fujiwara. She fired two bursts killing one and wounding the other. The wounded man drew out a QSZ-92 handgun and fired off two 5.8x21mm before Fujiwara could react. The man died off his wounds after the second shot and Fujiwara saw the gun fall out of his hand before it hit the snow. She slid down the tree, not from wounds, the man had missed badly. She was shocked.

Next, she realized someone was behind her. She jammed the barrel into the man's chest, but recognized the uniform as Japanese. It was Kurosaki, but she could only tell by the nametag above the right breast-pocket that read: PFC Kurosaki, I.

Kurosaki too only knew who he was looking at because of the nametag that read: Pvt. Fujiwara, F.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Hai. Where is everybody?" she asked.

"Not sure, but they're pushing us back. Come on," he said backing up with his gun raised downhill. He shot a soldier trying to get a bead on them with an LG2 grenade launcher mounted under the barrel of his Type 95 assault rifle.

They joined the rest of the assault team who were on a little knoll overlooking the park. Below them was the fire team and scattered members of Camel Company. A pair of Chinese tanks was advancing uphill. They couldn't yet tell what model, but it they were heavy tanks.

Harima fired a rocket at the lead tank, but it had no effect to the heavy front armor. There was an explosion and the tank sagged to one side after a sabot fired by a Type 90 heavy tank hit it.

The second tank swerved around its leader and fired a round at the Japanese heavy tank. The round damaged the main gun on the Type 90. The Chinese tank, which they could now see was a Type 96, turn to bring its front armor facing the second Type 90 coming to aid the first. Harima seized the opportunity to strike the Type 96 in its side. The 84mm AT rocket punctured the rear armor below the skirt and exploded. The tank came to a halt, Harima damaged its engine.

The Chinese pulled back.

"Don't be fooled," said Lt. Urashima over the radio. "They're just going to regroup and wait for better weather."

'Hai, they got nowhere to run anyways,' thought Harima.

* * *

**2335 Hours; November 18****th****, 2010 (UTC -5); The Oval Office, The White House; Washington DC, United States of America**

**Korean Standard Time (UTC +9): 1335 Hours; November 19****th****, 2010**

'Some days I really hate my job,' thought US President Michelle Crane. She was: mother of two, married to a writer, rallying point of the Independent Party, leader of the 'Free World', and Commander in Chief.

She turned in her chair and looked out the double-doors behind her. She stood up and stepped onto the balcony, something the Secret Service (8) frowned upon, but it wasn't like psycho with a sniper rifle was waiting for a one-in-a-trillion chance.

The leaves on the tree were gone. The National Mall was lit up. It was cool, but not cold. Washington's cold season was only just beginning and it wouldn't snow until either mid-December or more likely January (9).

She had a nice view of some of museums. To her left was the United States Capitol Building. Straight in front of her across Pennsylvania Ave and several sweeping lawns was the Washington Monument. To her right, though she couldn't see it, was the Lincoln Memorial. Beyond the Capitol Building, also out of her sight, was the United States Library of Congress and the Supreme Court of the United States of America.

Over a thousand years ago the Viking leader Leif Ericson landed in what is now Newfoundland, Canada. This was disputed until the 1960s and in 1964 the US Congress created Lief Ericson Day, which was a very obscure US holiday, even to US citizens, held on October 9. In 1492, Christopher Columbus led a voyage across the Atlantic and to India. Even though there were existing reports that there was a continent between Atlantic and Pacific, Columbus sailed anyways. The sad thing was he got a federal holiday named after him when it was Leif Ericson who was here first. The 'New World' as they called it wasn't even named after him. North and South America were named after the man who actually landed on the mainland, Amerigo Vespucci. Columbus landed on Cuba.

Over five hundreds years have passed and this continent was fought over by the French who took the Midwest and Canada. The Spanish who took almost everything from Argentina to modern day Colorado. And the British who took the Eastern Seaboard and the Appalachian Mountains.

There were also the Russians who took Alaska, but nobody really knew or cared at the time.

The British eventually took most of the French colonies. Then the British colonies revolted against the British, forming the very country President Crane was leader of. They had bought the Midwest from the French, seized the Southwest from the then newly independent nation Mexico, displaced millions of Native tribes, claimed Hawaii because nobody was in their way, and bought Alaska from the Czar.

It was a very long story on how these 50 states came to be part of a union that somehow just worked. How it worked was an even more complicated story.

Crane looked at Washington Monument. It was dedicated to the first president, George Washington. It's been 213 years since President Washington left office and she was the first woman president. All the presidents before her we white, Christian, and men. She was white and Christian, but she was a woman. It was a start and in America once one person made it, there was no stopping the rest.

She breathed in the air. Car exhaust.

Crane smiled a little. Despite the stressfulness of the job, she did love the fact of what she was doing. She often would do this to remind herself why she didn't just give up.

She looked at the letter from the Independent Party's Senate speaker she had received. The Independents went from having 1 seat to having 19. The Democratic Party had 41 and the Republican Party had 40. Because they were so evenly matched, the Independents were needed to break stalemates. The letter stated that the Independents in the Senate would propose the bill pull troops out of Korea and prepared them for Europe.

Crane knew the war in Korea would end soon and she wanted to deploy soldiers to Kosovo to intimidate Yugoslavian troops who were gathering near the Serbian-Kosovo border.

The phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Michelle," said the voice of the Secretary of State.

"Nick, have you heard from Moscow?"

"Yeah. The Ultra-nationalists are almost there. The Loyalists have lost, Michelle. I'm preparing my ambassadors. I don't know who their new Minister of Foreign Relations will be yet," said Secretary Spinoza.

"Has Bolotnikov contacted us at all?"

"Nope. Not even his daughter."

"Who is she again?" asked President Crane. It had been a show of good faith between the USA and USSR to host the daughter of the General-Secretary of the Soviet Union's education.

"Anya Kamarov Bolotnikov. What becomes of her if Nikolay dies?" asked Spinoza.

"We're her caretakers. If she wants to stay, we grant her political asylum. If she wants to go home… well we can't stop her, can we?" asked Crane dryly.

"I would encourage her to stay. I highly doubt it would be safe for her in her Motherland. Did you get that report from the Intelligence Community?"

"Yeah," said Crane glancing at the file with the CIFA's seal on the cover. "Don't you just love the Russians?"

"It's not like we haven't done the same-"

"Maybe you, but I haven't," interrupted Crane. "I am not making a career out of playing spy with the Communist."

"You may have to start soon. You may also want me to start figuring out who our allies are."

Crane bit her lip. "Don't start asking those questions yet, but make sure were being extra nice."

"Got it. Bye."

'The fun life of the Commander in Chief,' she thought sarcastically. She looked at the report from her officers assuring her things were fine in Korea. Seoul was being fought for as she read what was probably a pile of bullshit written by some desk-jockey in the Pentagon who had never seen a day of war.

She looked at the calendar on her desk. It had been two years since she was elected and in another two she would either be in her second term or looking for a new job.

* * *

**1345 Hours; November 19****th****, 2010; Kantei, Tokyo; Tokyo Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

The Kantei was the office of the Prime Minister of the Federation of Japan. It was located in the Chiyoda Ward of Tokyo, the same ward the Diet National Assemble Building and Supreme Court Building.

When Prime Minister Aokami accepted being made Prime Minister by his political party, he didn't think he would be heading up a war. The French were pulling their troops out after Seoul was secured. Albanians, Italians, Greeks, and Dutch were also going to be pulling troops home or to elsewhere. Pretty soon it would only be the British, Germans, Belgians, Turks, Canadians, Americans, Japanese, and South Koreans.

The Belgians too wanted to withdraw, but couldn't find an opening. The Turks were worried about violence in the Soviet Union, which bordered Turkey. The British were prepared to keep their ground forces, but wanted their naval task force back in the Atlantic. Germany was the only European country saying they were committed to see this war to the end.

Aokami was trying to establish if it was necessary to send another two divisions. The Federal Army had two infantry divisions, two armor divisions, and one airborne division. They also had two MASH regiments and three logistic regiments. The Federal Navy had a couple of ships escorting civilian cargo ships bringing in supplies to the Yellow Sea ports in friendly hands. Most of their units were conducting drills in the Pacific near Hokkaido, but on marine division was operating in Korea. The Federal Air Force had two wings flying out of bases in Korea, but another four flying out of bases from Hokkaido to Okinawa. According to General Kobayashi, they had roughly 79,000 soldiers in Korea.

If we was understanding what his generals were telling him, then Japan would not need more ground troops and the Navy was not needed for anything urgent. He approved continued funding and to send replacements for lost soldiers, but not additional divisions. Lt. General Honnoji seemed to be doing fine with his current troop levels and did not need to make it over 100,000.

He looked out west. Somewhere west was millions of Chinese soldiers. Many of them tried to invade his country.

Many compared China and Japan to dragons. Aokami wondered why people compared nations to animals like Americans with eagles, Russians with bears, or Chinese with the Dragon, specifically to a red dragon because they were Communists.

'I guess that would make us the Blue Dragons, because we're Capitalists,' he thought wryly.

* * *

**1349 Hours; November 19****th****, 2010; Zhongnanhai, Beijing; Beijing Municipality, People's Republic of China**

Zhongnanhai was a complex of buildings next door to the ancient Forbidden Palace. It was home to the heads of the Communist Party of the People's Republic of China. Zhongnanhai was a name in China synonymous with the heads of state like the Kremlin in the Soviet Union or the White House in the United States.

"Are we really going through with this?" asked Minister of Propaganda He Jinbao.

"What choice are we left with?" asked Deng Ziyang, Minister of the State Councilors.

"Making this kind of deal with the Americans, feels more like a deal with the devil. Are you sure they can't use this against us?" asked Liao Jinai, Premier of the State Council.

The three ministers arguing were members of the Politburo Standing Committee of Communist Party of the People's Republic of China. Like their Soviet counter-parts, these were the voting members of the Politburo. There were a total of nine ministers and another thirteen candidates who headed up committees or were in charge of the various autonomous states under Chinese rule.

"Gentlemen, I assure you that we can do this," said General Xi Qinglui, Executive Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission. He was not a voting minister, but he was second in command of the People's Liberation Army after the General-Secretary. He was also not thought of as a general. The armed forces felt he was a little out of touch and General Ma Xung, Vice Chairman of Central Military Commission, ran the most of the day to day operations.

"How many people know?" asked Minister Ziyang.

"Very few. Not even their President knows. One intelligence chief broadcasted a message to one of the CIA's known listening posts that we wanted to talk. We spoke with someone in an agency called the NSA," explained Qinglui.

"What is the NSA?"

"National Security Agency. They're in charge of coordinating their military intelligence bureaus. From there they passed the message along to someone who sent a message to a trusted agent in our service. They are going to do it, but we must be sure that he will be on a helicopter to Jianggezhuang on the 20th, with minimum escorts."

"That's all been arrange, but what are they-" started Minister Jinbao.

"I don't know, but we will make sure nothing leaves this country. Minister Jinbao, are you ready for your part?"

The Propaganda Minister nodded. He had made plans to defuse whatever situation arose and make sure then knew General-Secretary would be able to end Chinese involvement immediately without public protest.

"Is the Discipline Committee ready for their part?" asked Qiao Ruihuan, Vice General-Secretary of the People Republic of China. He was the man who would take office after General-Secretary Zhang was assassinated.

Li Qili, Secretary of the Central Committee of Discipline Inspection, nodded. He would have to make sure people who were going to protest the regime change were taken care of.

"I have one question then," said Vice General-Secretary Ruihuan. "What if something goes wrong?"

* * *

**1430 Hours; November 19****th****, 2010; Dongjak Ward, Seoul; Seoul National Capitol Area, Republic of Korea**

A few 155mm shells landed on supposed Chinese positions. The Japanese were like a child poking a sleeping dog. They were trying to if they could get a reaction and not doing it in a smart way.

The Chinese did respond… with a barrage of machine gun fire.

Harima pushed his body, which was already in the prone, as close to the Earth as possible. A hot draft of air told him a round passed close to him.

Harima returned fire, but the Chinese soldier dodged the shot by diving behind a marble fountain. He stuck his Type 95 bullpup assault rifle over the fountain and fired blindly. Rounds flew over Harima's head. He waited patiently and was rewarded when the soldier stuck his head around the fountain. Harima shot him in the face.

More automatic fire came, but from his left. Harima wielded rifle and fired an automatic burst from his M-14E3 automatic rifle. They took cover. Jupei took aim with her M203 and dropped a 40mm fragmentation grenade on them. A red mist told them they had hit their target.

Chinese armor was rolling from the north and heading uphill. Five Type 86Gs barreled up the hill firing their 30mm auto-cannons.

They had not expected that the Japanese had placed some explosives in their path. A soldier saw the IFVs had reached a point where C4 was buried under the snow. He jammed the plunger into the small box that was wired to the C4. With a series of blasts, the Type 86s were blasted apart. Coming out of the snowy abyss were tanks.

They were Type 85 medium tanks. One of the tanks had a long defined antenna on the rear of the tank, in addition to the one on the turret. Harima remembered reading somewhere that command tanks would have antennas like that. That meant the commander on that tank was an officer.

"This is Echo 5-10," said Harima. "I see a tank with large antenna. It has to be an officer."

"This is Hollow 4-4, can you point which one it is?" asked the tanker.

"It's the Type 85 hanging in the back. To the right of that statue."

"Hai, I see him."

A Japanese Type 10 turned to engage the Chinese tank with its 120mm gun. The Chinese tank commander was faster and he fired a series of smoke grenades into the air. The gunner on the Type 10 switched to thermal vision, but the commander was already moving. A second Type 85 had pulled back to protect his superior.

Harima lacking a thermal scope or goggles, couldn't see what was happening in the cloud. A few shots from a Chinese NCO reminded Harima that other people needed his attention.

The PLA were continually charging and withdrawing in a very organized fashion. They were probing for weaknesses in the Japanese lines, but couldn't exploit any. Harima guessed they were having trouble communicating with their superiors and fellows.

The ground in front of Harima was blown in his face by a tank shell. He spluttered and yelled out in confusion, but was unhurt.

"Kenji, you with us?" asked Hanai.

"First, thanks for your concern, and secondly, hai, I am fine," said Harima venomously.

Harima pulled a grenade off his tac-vest and pulled the pin when he saw a platoon of Chinese trying to push uphill. He was holding down the spoon with his thumb. Once the PLAGF soldiers were close enough, Harima released the spoon and tossed the grenade. He killed two and wounded one, but most of the soldiers scattered successfully to safety upon seeing the small lethal object approaching them.

Trained or experienced soldiers tended to recognize certain queues of danger like the unique movement a person of a person throwing an object or a metal ball landing next to one's self.

A Chinese soldier leaned around from behind a tree. In an instant Harima saw he was trying to angle his rifle to fire a grenade. Harima put a 7.62x51mm round in his chest.

An explosion of a Japanese IFV being destroyed signaled the renewed attack of the Type 85s. The coaxial gun was sweeping through the Japanese infantry. The one of the tank commanders was mounting the anti-air machine gun on top of his tank. Ishida put a bullet in his head. Unfortunately, Ishida attracted the attention of the gunner. The blue-haired sharpshooter ran for his life to avoid the 105mm shell the tank sent his former position.

The command tank seemed to have disappeared, but Harima suspected it was close by. Harima armed his AT4 and looked for an opening. He saw that one of the Type 85s was very close to him. He could even see the gap between the turret and chasse, one of the weakest spots on a tank. He fired a rocket that zoomed through the air and smashed into the gap. The side of the turret exploded and through the hole it left they could see flames and carnage.

**Kaboom!**

The command tank had returned… with friends. The Type 85 command tank with two additional Type 85 medium tanks was slowly advancing with six Type 79 light tanks and a company of infantry.

The Japanese were down to one functioning Type 90 heavy tank, one Type 10 medium tanks, two Type 89 IFVs, and four battered Type 73 APCs, plus one battered company and one near full-strength company. The Chinese had one Type 96, four Type 85s plus the command Type 85, the remains a battalion, and a fresh company. The Japanese were outnumbered 3 to 1.

"Echo Leader," shouted an overexcited radioman, "I got one of our arty batteries on the line, sir!"

Hitsugaya eyes widened and he keyed his radio, "Patch me in, now!"

"… this is Black Hammer 3, who is this?" asked a man.

"This is Echo Leader, under command of Yoroi Uma Five. Request fire mission at Papa 1314.13 Quebec 291.101. Bring it in danger close to our position, over!"

"…… coordinates received, Captain. Strike inbound, out."

There was a distant pound of FH-70 howitzers. A roar of 155mm shells got steadily closer. Chinese soldiers scattered and made a run for cover. A wall of fire erupted in front of Japanese Federal Army soldiers and the People's Liberation Army Ground Forces soldiers.

"Redirect fire north by 5m, over!"

"… hai, redirecting barrage, out."

The Chinese pulled back to the bottom of the hill as the shells chased them.

"Redirect 30m north!"

"On it, Black Hammer, out."

"I think they may be retreating," said Hitsugaya.

"Good, gave me the coordinates and will finish… nani (what)? Holy shit they- …"

Static filled Hitsugaya's ears. 'Fuck, a counter-battery barrage (10).'

"This is Echo Leader, any friendly units please respond."

While Hitsugaya repeated his broadcast, 1st Lt. Matsumoto, 2nd Lt. Urashima, and 2nd Lt. Masaki tried to keep order with their platoons. The nine squads of E Company checked their weapons and remaining ammo in anticipation of a renewed PLAGF counter-attack.

"Is it me, or are there more of them?" asked Asou looking through his binoculars. Ishida peered through his scope and did a visual sweep.

"Hai, I think there are more of them. Looks like four wheeled APCs and another company."

Two ZSL-92 6x6 wheeled APCs slowly advanced with an estimated 160 soldiers.

"Where are they all coming from?!" demanded Asou.

"China, duh," said Lt. Urashima as he moved past them checking the line.

"Seriously!" shouted Asou.

"Somewhere north of the Han River," said Urashima. "There's a US Army base in the ward just across the Han from us. Storm's been letting up a little and we've managed to reach Captain Nara. He says they're facing an entire regiment. I gotta' go, ganbatte (good luck)."

He moved over to 6th squad to make sure they were holding.

"Harima," said Asou, "I don't suppose those markings on that command tank mean anything to you? Anything from those guidebooks you spent weeks reading?"

The commander on the tank had opened the hatch and was barking some orders to an infantry officer. Harima took the binoculars from Asou and looked at the rank on the shoulders of the tank officer, before he lowered himself back into the safety of his tank.

"Uh… I see a star with a line on either side of it… uh… that's a major, Asou," he said.

"This is Echo 5-1 to Echo 4-0," said Asou reaching for his platoon leader. "That Type 85 with the antenna has a major in it, over."

"A major? Repeat, over."

"The Type 85, the command one. One of my soldiers confirmed it was a major. Sir, he knows most of the PLA ranks by memory, over," said Asou hoping Lt. Urashima hadn't picked up on Harima's abysmal memory… or at least knew Harima read the handbook enough times to memorize most of the rank insignias, guns, vehicles, and aircraft on sight.

Lt. Urashima looked at the mentioned tank. Standard tanks had an antenna sticking out of the turret near its rear, but a command model which were commanded by officers and had a large thick distinctive antenna mounted behind the turret. NATO anti-tank and tank crews were trained to kill the command vehicles first because it would throw a unit into disarray. This 'major' was staying a safe distance, but close enough to the front to command. There was a standard model Type 85 sticking close to his CO. If only the skies would clear, an air strike from an American Thunderbolt would rip them apart, or a Strike Eagle with a couple of Cluster Bombs.

* * *

**1550 Hours; November 19****th****, 2010; People's Liberation Army Ground Forces IV Corps HQ, Seoul; Seoul National Capitol Area, Republic of Korea (occupied)**

Lt. General Tang was sitting in a chair that was probably the property of an American general. He was in the Yongsan Garrison, a US military base that, due to lack of room in Seoul, was to be relocated to a new site south of Incheon and near the Osan Air Base.

It was a very large base and Tang was sure the Americans would be sorry to give it up with its 3 swimming pools, 3 gyms, baseball fields, soccer fields, football fields, movie theater, and bowling alley. Tang was thinking about submitting a report on the importance of keeping soldiers entertained. After all a board soldier was one who had time to plot revolt.

"General, Colonel Senior Jiang to see you," said Captain Wung.

"Show him in, Captain," said Tang.

"General," said Jaing saluting him.

"How goes things?" asked Tang calmly.

"Confuse, General. I am having real problems reach my regimental and battalion commanders. I have no idea what is happening in Dongjak Ward."

"No idea at all?" questioned Tang with a raised eyebrow.

"Well… I know my commanders are spread out and in no organized formation. So is NATO, but they're better at operating when separated from their superiors than us. We really need to improve the officer corps at the lower levels and work on our non-commissioned officer corps," demanded Jiang.

"I'd love to, but I don't make those decisions. So are we penetrating NATO lines?"

"Maybe, but I can't confirm. I can't help but wonder what the Japs are thinking."

* * *

**1550 Hours; November 19****th****, 2010; Japanese Federal Army IV Corps HQ, Osan; Kyŏnggi Province, Republic of Korea**

"Just tell 10th Infantry to hold, we can't support a full on attack on Incheon and Seoul," said Lt. General Honnoji Keiji into a phone. He had left his previous HQ in Pusan to be closer to the front. Osan was the best place he could find with facilities to command all the ground units. Outside were US ground crews trying to keep the planes on the tarmac from freezing over.

"General, I have compiled a bunch of disconnected transmissions from the 6th Infantry Division in Seoul and may have a bead on the situation," said Command Sergeant Major Senoshi Momoko, aide to Lt. General Honnoji.

"Finally, body can tell me what's going on," said Honnoji relieved.

"From what I can tell, the 82nd Mech Infantry is spread out across the entire Dongjak Ward in groups of one or two companies. The 81st is spread out because of the blizzard. It seems the 27th Infantry and 26th Heliborne Battalions have made it to the front. The 28th Armor Battalion are completely lost and have been asking for a SITREP for hours," she said pointing to a spot on the south end of the Dongjak Ward.

"Enemy strength?"

"I'm getting scattered reports of regiments and battalions across the board so I estimate it is a division. I believe it is a motor-rifle division, which is a Chinese/Soviet equivalent of a mechanized infantry division."

He nodded, "So it's a mobile unit with lots of APCs and light armor supporting rapid assault infantry. Get me 14th Brigade's CO."

Senoshi dialed the number for the 14th Reserve Mobile Infantry Brigade HQ which had set up just south of Seoul. "Sergeant Major Yamashino. Who is this?"

"This is CSM Senoshi, Corp Command," said Senoshi in an authoritative tone. "Get me General Akesaka, now."

"Hai, ma'am."

"Brigadier General Akesaka, may I help you Sergeant?" asked an exhausted sounding man.

"Corp Commander for you, sir," she said passing the phone to her commander.

"Akesaka, I have a report that says one of your battalions is lost and trying to find the front."

"Surely one of them has GPS (global positioning satellites)," reasoned Akesaka, he was too busy to deal with a lost battalion. "General I'm need else where, those guys in Dongjak are on their own."

"Akesaka, don't you dare… the bastard hung up on me," he said indignantly.

"Sir, right here is E Company of the 81st Regiment and C Company of the 82nd. They also have few units from H Company. It looks like a mix regiment is converging on their location," said Senoshi hoarsely. "General, they'll be overrun."

"I can't do anything. I can't reach any of the field officers… they may be all dead already," said Honnoji sinking his head into his palms.

Senoshi patted her superior on the back. "The 81st have pulled off some miracles."

"Right then, dear Amaterasu-sama, please help our soldiers," prayed Honnoji.

* * *

**1710 Hours; November 19****th****, 2010; Dongjak Ward, Seoul; Seoul National Capitol Area, Republic of Korea**

"Last mag," called out Harima as he loaded the last 30 rounds of 7.62x51mm cartridges into his rifle.

Both sides were softening. Both sides were freezing. Both sides were heavy on wounded and low on ammo. Both sides were holding their positions and trying to pick away at each other one-by-one.

"Where is their commander?" asked Hitsugaya.

"This is Echo 5-3, I see him. He's sitting by the bus shelter at the bottom of the hill. At least I think."

The storm was picking up again and threatening to bury all of them.

"Bae Sing Three to Division HQ," said the Chinese major trying to reach is superiors. "Request reinforcements and supplies. The enemy is weakening and may be on the verge of collapse. I can't advance with my current strength, over."

He cursed when he got no response. Nobody in the division or corps offices were available.

"Major Nanling, I see armor coming in from behind the Japanese position," shouted the gunner.

"Maybe they're one of our units and got lost," suggested the driver.

"Bù (no), I wouldn't be that optimistic. We've been very lucky thus far," said the major. He used an observer camera to zoom in on the blurry image. The tanks were a distinctive box shape, no doubt Japanese Type 90 heavy tanks.

"Major, we lost contact with Shu 2-3 and 2-1," said one of the platoon leaders.

"Understood, Lieutenant. Can you hold?" asked Major Nanling, already knowing the answer. Most of his tanks had no more ammo… unless his tankers were willing to use their SMGs and sidearms.

"Negative, sir. The platoons on my flanks are already giving ground. It looks like a fresh company."

Major Nanling sighed and broadcasted a message to the Chinese units on the field. "This is Bae Sing Three, all units withdraw. We rally at the bridgeheads, out."

"This is Yoroi Uma Three, we have reached the front and are engaging hostile units, over."

"This is Echo Leader, good to see you, sir. We need ammo and as much of it as possible, over."

"This is Camel Leader, we need ammo too, sir, over."

"Negative, I don't have ammo to spare. We'll pursuit the enemy and-"

"Major, I don't think that's a good idea. We don't know what's ahead of us and we can't reach any support," said Camel Leader. She'd been out here for half the day and feared being left behind by the first friendly units she'd seen since E Company had arrived.

Major Takato Isshin, commander of the 28th Armor Battalion, conceded the point. "28th dig in and set up an aid station for our wounded friends. We'll hold out for the night here, out."

Harima felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked around to see a masked soldier wearing fleckturn camouflage like his own. Harima stood up and towered over the soldier, this wasn't unusual because Harima was taller than most Japanese.

"Oi, I got this," said the solder. "You got back and get some sleep."

"You're my relief?" asked Harima.

"Apparently," nodded the soldier.

"Alright then. Miho, let's go," said Harima helping his half frozen comrade, Jupei, and practically carried her to the rear. Kitsumori carried his empty M-60E4 and followed Harima and Hanai.

They entered the basement of a hardware store.

The assault team huddled together for warmth. Jupei recalled a time when she would have objected to being in such close contact with people of the opposite gender, but she was too cold to care. Besides, she couldn't imagine another three people in the world she trusted more than Corporal Hanai Haruki, Private First Class Harima Kenji, and Private Kitsumori Kazu. They passed around a couple of MREs (meal ready to eat) and wrapped their blankets around themselves.

"Got room for more in there?" asked Fujiwara.

"Sure," said Harima. Fujiwara sat down and scooted as close as she could.

"Move over a little," said Abarai. "You joining us Ichigo?"

"I'll probably hate myself later, but this isn't the time."

Ikuro joined them too. "I can't leave you guys alone. Who knows what kind of trouble you'll get into."

"Like what?" asked Abarai.

"You'll find a way."

"You kids really need to wrap these blankets tighter or they'll never keep you warm," said Mori making the rounds.

"Guess the party is over here," said Toyotomi. He dumped from chunks of wood and assembled them on the floor in front of them.

"Great, a fire," said Yamako plopping down with the group.

"Here," said Ishida bring more wood and pieces of cardboard. "We might want to sleep as a group or there's a chance we'll freeze to death during the night. A lot of soldiers have died that way in past wars."

"Agreed," said Amakasu dragging Shibata with him. "I think I can get this fire going better. Oi, Junkei, bring that chair with you."

"I got it. I also got coffee," said Tsutsui bringing an old wooden chair.

"No coffee, we need sleep. Anyone got tea?" asked Asou walking over.

"Sergeant, we were wondering where you were," said Harima.

"Hai, now it's a party," joked Kitsumori. They laughed.

"More like a dysfunctional family," said Asou with a half-smile. Nobody laughed. All 16 members of 5th squad were huddled together in a corner. Men and women of different ages and origins, but here together.

Harima smiled at this sight. This had to be the worst and most uncertain day of his life and these guys made it better somehow. They didn't have enough tea for everyone and they were sharing what they had. People had would have never normally have known and probably would have written him off as a delinquent were clinging to him for warmth, and he too. That made him feel warmer in a deeper sense then he could explain. He wondered if he could ever explain to his little brother Shuuji, his mother Kaori, Tenma… or Yakumo. Would they ever understand how much these people would mean to him? Mai would because she shared the same bond and Yakumo might, she was good at understanding the things Harima couldn't put into words.

We closed his eyes as sleep descended upon him. He was safe with his family in arms. His thoughts drifted to the pretty red-eyed woman in Yagami who was probably watching an Edo Era TV drama, that he too was a fan of, with her older sister. Harima wished he could be there with her and watch the show under a heated-table with the woman he'd come to love.

He wondered what life with her would be like. Harima hated uncertainty… but he trusted Yakumo, and that would good enough for him.

Harima's last conscious thought before sleep gently took him was that he was so close to the end. He was probably in more danger than ever, but if he made it, he would be in the clear and with the people who needed him, and that he needed more than everything else.

Harima was sound asleep with his brothers and sisters in arms. It was deafly quiet, accept for a few coughs and grunts from various soldiers. Outside the storm raged. They had one hell of a first day in Seoul and tomorrow would bring new challenges. All around Seoul guns were going silent. An unofficial and undeclared truce was in effect. So 5th squad would enjoy a well deserved uninterrupted sleep.

* * *

Okay, I'm sure some of the sections in this chapter seem random, but I'm jumping around to show different perspectives. I show scenes with people like the President Crane to show people who are trying to be prepared for the future and the end of the war. I also show that the war is still as intense as ever for the people still fighting.

I would really like to get at least one review. It takes time to write these chapters and it would take even longer if I proofread it more properly (sorry).

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. Flemish is a language spoken in the Kingdom of Belgium. It is really just Dutch, but with a different accent from the Dutch spoken in the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Holland). Most of northern Belgium speaks Flemish, which includes their major population centers of Antwerp and the capitol Brussels. Southern Belgium, which covers a much wider area of Belgium, speaks French and so does parts of Brussels. A small portion of east Belgium speaks German since they border the Federal Republic of Germany. The Belgian government (and military) mainly communicates in either Flemish or French.

2. Yokosuka is officially a United States Navy Base, but shares the facilities with the Japanese 1st Escort Fleet. There is no USN base in Yokohama.

3. Limey is a nickname for the British commonly used by Americans.

4. This is not intended to offend the Irish or Russians, but it is a fact that both nations are famous for alcohol consumption.

5. Because Tokyo is home to the Emperor and the Imperial Palace, it is nicknamed the Imperial City or Imperial Capitol.

6. The Alps are a very steep and hostile mountain range that stretches from southeastern France to western Austria. It spills out into some of southern Germany and northern Italy, and covers all of Switzerland. The Italians in World War I tried to invade the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but failed miserably because of the mountains and blizzards. Mountains, along with jungles, swamps, and urban areas, are considered the worst places for combat maneuvers.

7. Amphibs is a nickname for amphibious assault ships or amphibious transport ships.

8. The Secret Service is a federal agency. They are tasked with protecting the President of the United States, former Presidents of the United States, Vice Presidents of United States, and senior officials of the Executive Branch of the United States of America.

9. As a resident of the Washington DC area, I can tell you first hand that we don't normally get snow until February, sometimes we get snow in March. Currently it is June and it is miserable outside. We get nasty humidity and 90 degree weather during the summer.

10. Because artillery batteries present such a huge danger in war, there is specially created equipment to backtrack the source of artillery, mortar, rocket, and/or missile fire. The United States is the leading nation in the technology using Radar MASINT. An alternative would be to use hone in on radio transmissions and sources of the battery's radios which they would have to communicate with forward observers or infantry squads. Another alternative would be using acoustic sensors, since artillery makes a considerable amount of noise. For these reasons, artillery batteries must frequently relocate or risk being found by counter-artillery measures and destroyed.


	57. Chapter 57: A Walk in the Woods

I like to say this will be an action packed and exciting chapter, but then it always seems short of what I want

I like to say this will be an action packed and exciting chapter, but then it always seems short of what I want. Well… I hope this will go okay.

I'm 19-years-old. I feel the same. I did nothing for my birthday. Maybe that's why I'm writing a war novel, because my life is so boring. I also started volunteering at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

I don't own any trademarked or copywrite item. Please review and/or tell a friend.

* * *

**Chapter 57: A Walk in the Woods**

"The only easy day was yesterday."

The unofficial motto of the US Navy SEALs

**0700 Hours; November 20****th****, 2010; Dongjak Ward, Seoul; Seoul National Capitol Area, Republic of Korea**

"Push harder," said Hanai.

"I'm trying," barked Harima.

"Maybe we should blow it open," suggested Amakasu, holding up a block of C4.

"Let's not go that far yet," said Asou. 'A platoon of infantry snowed in a basement. We really are the great Japanese Federal Army.'

Harima and Hanai pushed on the cellar door with all their might and broke it open. The two of them were immediately buried under a snowdrift that had accumulated on the door.

"Good job, Kenji, Haruki," said Kurosaki stepping out into the street. He was nearly blinded by the sun reflecting off the snow. He put on the goggles, which were tinted for his protection.

"Sun's up," said Ikuro stating the obvious. She sounded relieved.

Harima stepped onto the street and looked up. The sun was shining through breaks in the clouds, but the sky was still a dark gray. Snow was still falling from in a steady flurry, but they had pretty good visibility.

* * *

**0709 Hours; November 20****th****, 2010; 81****st**** Heliborne/Armor Regiment HQ, Seoul; Seoul National Capitol Area, Republic of Korea**

"Hai, General, I have reestablished contact with all my battalions," said Colonel Hojo, commander of the 81st Regiment.

"Ii desu. SITREP," ordered Lt. General Honnoji.

"They all need ammo and lots of it. I have my two chopper battalions in the vicinity and connected with them at 0457," said Hojo.

'Barely an hour after the storm passed,' thought Honnoji.

"I heard from them 20 minutes ago and they say they'll be ready to airlift within the hour," said Hojo confidently.

"Ii desu. I was pretty worried all night you guys were screwed over by the storm. What about the enemy?"

"Echo Leader and Yoroi Uma Three report the PLAGF regiment attacking them pulled back to an unknown position. Foxglove, Dogwood, and all of my company commanders report the same. Both them and us beat the shit out of each other. The 28th Armor Battalion reached Camel Company's position by accident. The Chinese saw a fresh armor battalion coming and decided they had enough for one day. It seemed to set off a change reaction because eventually the Chinese withdrew to somewhere north. It was no organized retreat, sir. But they did retreat. My officers say it was pretty close, sir."

"I know, I know. If the Chinese a managed to put one battalion in the field we'd be the ones retreating not them. You think they're holding positions around the Han?" asked Honnoji.

"Most likely," said Colonel Hojo solemnly. "Where's are fire support?"

"We need to set up new firing positions for our guns, but the Air Force should have some fighters up and I think the Americans have an AWACS up over southern Seoul. Wild Weasels will be coming in for a sweep of the city before the fighter-bombers are launched. Some of our bombers are going to fly sorties over Seoul too."

"Doesn't sound like much," said Hojo.

"A lot of bases in the south are now being assaulted by the storm system. The planes we got will be coming out of Osan, northern Honshu, or Hokkaido."

"Sir, where is General Akesaka? Shouldn't he be telling me these things?" asked Colonel Hojo.

"Akesaka… he's somewhere… I don't know where, but he'll be replaced soon," said Lt. General Honnoji bitterly. He couldn't believe the man had left more than half of his soldiers to die. Honnoji had put a call in for military tribunal. He was going to personally nail Akesaka ass to the wall before New Years.

* * *

**0730 Hours; November 20****th****, 2010; Dongjak Ward, Seoul; Seoul National Capitol Area, Republic of Korea**

"Damn I missed those guys," said Asou seeing a single flight of fighters. They were flying high to avoid anti-air guns, so nobody could tell kind models they were, but they recognized the engine noises as NATO planes.

A surface-to-air missile zoomed up to meet the four planes, but they had ample time to see it coming. The planes scattered while dropping flares and regrouped in a lazy way to show they weren't the least by intimidated by the enemy ground based threats to them.

"The enemy fighters will be up soon to," said Yamako. "Did our allies take Kimp'o?"

"I think they're still fighting for it," said Toyotomi.

"Belgians are there," said Lt. Urashima walking over to their group. "The KPA can't launch their planes while Belgian tanks can shoot them on the runway."

"So they're planes will have to come from bases in North Korea, ne?" asked Ikuro.

"Hai," said Urashima with a nod.

"But there's still the PLAAF at Incheon," said Asou. "Or have we bombed them?"

"Not that I know of," said Lt. Urashima shaking his head.

* * *

**0730 Hours; November 20****th****, 2010; JFS Kaishio, 90km west of Incheon; Yellow Sea, Republic of Korea**

"We've reach destination, all engines to halt," ordered the watch officer in the hard line phone.

"Aye, all engines to halt," said a man in the engine room.

Captain Zakurai, commander of the fleet ballistic submarine Kaishio, picked up a second phone and dialed for sonar. "Conn to sonar, are we alone?"

"Hai, Skipper, we have no hostile attack boats or surface ships in the area. Nearest group is a small surface boat. They're dragging something underwater."

"Dipping sonar?"

"Negative, Skipper. It's a fishing net. Probably a trolling vessel."

"Warn us if anything else shows up. Conn, out."

"All stations ready, sir," said the executive officer.

Zakurai nodded and dialed a new number, "Combat? Conn, here. Flood all vertical launch tubes slowly."

"Aye, conn."

"Sonar to conn."

"Contact?" asked Zakurai.

"Aye, Skipper… false alarm, it's are escort."

Zakurai let out a sigh, "Understood, keep can eye out for anything else."

A single Sameshio Class attack submarine had joined the Kaishio on its mission as an escort. It had pealed off hours ago to scout the area ahead. It had apparently returned to protect the Kaishio. It was nice to have a nimble attack class boat, but it was difficult to have coordinated submarine operations. It was hard to tell who was who.

The Sameshio Class was gently hovering nearby to the rear of the Kaishio, that way it could cover the vulnerable spots. Within half an hour, the tubes for 20 ballistic missiles.

"Combat to conn. All systems ready. Safety green."

"Hai, I'm on my way," said Zakurai. "Haiyato, you take conn."

"Aye, Skipper."

Zakurai quickly entered the combat control center of the Kaishio. The Kaishio had two groups for the attack center. The first was the torpedo group who manned the four torpedo tubes on the Kaishio. The second group was the technicians for the vertical launch tubes for the ICBMs. Zakurai and the executive officer for combat control both pulled out two keys each and placed them into their respective slots. These were a standard safety measure for missile boats so one person couldn't launch a nuclear missile, but since the Japanese didn't possess nukes the reasons for these keys seem pointless. Zakurai always thought the command staff may have thought they may need to acquire such arms.

"You have the coordinates?" asked Zakurai.

"For our little part, aye, Skipper," said the exe op.

Zakurai checked his watch. "We'll have to trust the Air Force is ready on their end. We're launching."

Zakurai and the exe op each put a hand on a key. "10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-mark!"

On 'mark', the exe op and Zakurai simultaneously turned two keys each. The green safety light changed to red, signaling that the safety was released and the missiles were armed. A third officer entered a code into the launch computer and a second safety was disarmed.

"Launch, in 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-mark!" yelled Zakurai.

A cheif petty officer raised a clear plastic lid and jammed her thumb on the red button is protected. With a loud burst of pressurized air 20 ICBM were ejected towards the surface.

"Skipper to conn, get us out of here."

"Aye, sir."

The Kaishio began a swift silent run to escape before Chinese ASW planes or ships responded. Her escort heard the launch and turned to scout ahead a predetermined escape route. The attack boat's job would be done in the next day or two when her charge arrived safely at Tsushima where another escort would take it to Sasebo.

Meanwhile a Japanese Federal Air Force NCO on Awaji-shima (Awaji Island) detected the launch of 20 ICBMs. He tapped into the missiles system via satellite and entered it's projected course. The Kaishio was merely a deliver system and the Air Force tech at Awaji Space Center would control the missiles course. A major, who was on watch, looked at the missiles' course on a large display monitor and smiled. 'Sometimes you gotta' love the Navy.'

Meanwhile, a PLAN frigate detected the ICBMs 2 minutes after their launch. The commander on board radioed a horrified message to Incheon. The Chinese at Incheon went into a panic. They knew they were seeing inter-continental ballistic missiles, which were primarily a deliver system for nuclear warheads, but they weren't following a normal course. An ICBM would usually climb at high speeds outside of the Earth's atmosphere and then go into a supersonic terminal descent at their targets. These missiles were forming an arch, but still within the Earth's atmosphere at a slower speed. Were these nukes? They were similar to American Tridents, but not quite the same.

Soon its projected course became clear. Incheon International Airpot, where the PLA had set up their base of operations and field HQ. The PLAAF scrambled fighters and prepared surface-to-air-missiles since the ICBMs were traveling slow enough for fighters to intercept.

As the J-11s approached the ICBMs, they suddenly burst. The ICBMs broke apart each revealing 10 Tomahawk cruise missiles which were propelled at incredible speeds. Suddenly there were not 20, but 200 targets screeching for the People's Liberation Army base. The maneuver was so shocking the Chinese didn't know what to do at the sudden increase in contacts. SAMs, missiles, and AA rounds raked the skies, but too many missiles were in the air. The Tomahawks too burst and rained down bomblets on the Chinese, like a cluster bomb. The runways were destroyed and hangers were left shattered. Although the HQ, fuel depot, munitions depot, and most of the barracks were undamaged, the runways were totally unusable.

* * *

**0800 Hours; November 20****th****, 2010; Office of Federal Navy Chief of Staff: Admiral Mizuryū Chidori, Tokyo; Tokyo Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

"Mushi mushi?" answered Admiral Mizuryū.

"It's been done, ma'am. The South Koreans are going to be furious," said an officer.

"They'll live. The Prime Minister says he'll pay for the repairs to their runways."

"We may have trashed a little more than that."

"Like?"

"Some of the hangers and a terminal, but most of the facility is untouched."

"Including their ground forces?"

"Hai, ma'am. The Air Force overestimated their triple-A defenses and thought more of our missiles would be shot down, so they were all concentrated on the runways and the areas nearest them."

"I see. So, that means we have the only functioning air base in South Korea, right?"

"Well, that's technically the Americans, but hai. Osan AB is currently the only functioning base and the rest are either just digging themselves out or are still being hit by the storm. There is also a AFRoK base, but Osan is the largest and closest to Seoul."

Mizuryū nodded and said, "I guess it's up to the Army now. Call if there are any other developments."

"Hai, ma'am."

* * *

**0800 Hours; November 20****th****, 2010; Dongjak Ward, Seoul; Seoul National Capitol Area, Republic of Korea**

A Japanese Federal Army UH-1J hovered overhead and lowered gently to the ground. Being smaller than the UH-60 Black Hawk, the Huey was better able to land in their surroundings. With the 28th Armor Battalion, the Japanese were able to extend their lines to include the entire park which was large enough for a flight of choppers, even the Black Hawk. The Huey's doors opened as the chopper landed and the gunners helped waiting members of Echo and Camel Company pull ammo crates of 5.52x45mm rounds off.

"We can take six stretchers, so bring us your most critical wounded!" shouted one of the gunners over the beat of the rotors to 1st Lt. Matsumoto.

"We have them waiting!" she yelled back while waving for the wounded to be brought forward. A man missing both legs, a woman who was in a coma from a head wound, three soldiers with severe chest wounds, and two with bleeding arteries wounds were put on the Huey.

"More choppers are coming!" shouted the gunner as the started to slid the door closed. "Two more Hueys! ETA 6 minutes!"

Matsumoto nodded and yelled, "Get our wounded out of here!"

The next two choppers actually arrived in 5 minutes. They brought more ammo this time including 7.62x51mm rounds and machine gun belts. They also had a crate of 84mm rockets which Kurosaki and Abarai managed to get a hold of. They seized a few tubes containing the anti-tank munitions and went in search of Harima and Hanai who had used all of theirs in the battle. Soldiers were trying to get ammo and a sort of frenzy broke out as men and women of two companies made grabs for the brass and chopper projectiles. Without these little lethal tools, their weapons were useless and gave a high and tense feeling of venerability that scared everyone. 5th squad, with soldiers like Hanai, Harima, Kurosaki, Abarai, Kitsumori, Amakasu, and Tsutsui, who were much larger than most Japanese men, had an easy time acquiring ammo for their squadmates.

"Ma'am we got 5-5-2s," said Abarai putting down a box containing clips of 5.52x45mm in front of Ikuro.

"Good work. Take what you can."

"This won't be enough for the four of us," pointed out Fujiwara.

"More choppers are coming… where's Kurosaki?" asked Ikuro looking around.

"Next chopper is bringing in medical supplies and he says he's low on… uh… well, I'm not sure what he said. But it was something and he needs it," said Abarai.

"I believe he said he was low on coagulants (1)," said Fujiwara.

For the next hour supplies were flown in by Hueys, Black Hawks, and even a Super Stallion. The CH-53E Super Stallion, due to its size, required the engineers to blow down a few trees to make an LZ (landing zone) large enough for it to land. A pair of recovery vehicles arrived for the damaged and disabled tanks.

At some point a mortar company arrived and dug foxholes for their four 81mm mortars.

Some of the artillery corps counter-artillery crews had setup their equipment including backtracking radar and an acoustical sensor which was capable of hearing hostile fire support from several kilometers away. Mortars made the smallest amount of noise when fired with a small 'pop'. Field guns and howitzers made loud bangs that got louder with larger calibers or larger amounts of powder kegs. Rockets made the loudest and most deafening noises, and therefore could be heard much farther than any other artillery piece. Rocket crews had to wear protective earmuffs or risk permanent damage to their ears from such high decibels that their eardrums would explode and bleed.

A Black Hawk came in and landed with various gear. Kurosaki walked away triumphantly with a stack of small boxes containing pressure bandages, a bottle of rubbing alcohol, and other items necessary for the 'substitute medic'.

He wandered over to 5th squad. He started putting things away into the medic bag he'd procured from the British chopper in Shinomoseki.

"Are we missing anything?" asked Asou.

"Sanity and brains," said Kitsumori sarcastically.

"Aside from the obvious lack of intellect and mental stability, are we in need of anything?"

"Well-" started Kurosaki with a wide grin. He was clearly on the verge of making some half-ass joke.

"Forget it," said Asou cutting him off. "We are not going to get Matsusaka beef."

"Damn, I was hoping to get a decent meal for once," said Abarai.

"Like the Army is going to get us first class meat," said Ikuro shaking her head.

"We can dream," reasoned Abarai.

Ikuro pictured the tender, juicy beef from Matsusaka. It was premier beef and it was the most expensive meat in Japan, and cheap meat was pretty expensive in Japan. That was why most Japanese eat fish, it was in greater abundance and was therefore cheaper to buy. She smiled almost longingly. "That would be nice…"

"Come on guys, we have work to do," said Asou falling into step with the 27th Infantry Battalion that was moving north towards the Han River. In fact the entire 81st Regiment was moving north with the American 100th Mechanized Infantry Regiment.

* * *

**0820 Hours; November 20****th****, 2010; 5,500m (18,044.62ft) above sea level, Seoul; Seoul National Capitol Area, Republic of Korea**

"This is White Fox 2-1, 2-3, break off with 2-4 in routine patrol patterns, over," said Captain Oneishi, leader of Flight 2 of White Fox Squadron.

"Hai, 2-1, were off, out," said 1st Lt. Nara Kentaro. His wingman, 2nd Lt. Kugashi Nobuyuki followed his section lead.

So far, White Fox Squadron was the only squadron airborne over Seoul. A squadron of American A-10 Thunderbolt-IIs had hit ground targets before the KPA and PLA had time to get their AAs online. Some Wild Weasels had also taken out of search radars, but most of the enemy radars were still in tacked. For those reasons, most of the slower fighter-bombers were kept grounded like the Thunderbolts which typically flew low to the ground at slow speeds to kill enemy tanks.

"Attention all NATO aircraft, we have an APB (all points bulletin) from the Federal Air Force Central HQ," said AWACS Doku Gon Ryū. "Navy has destroyed runways at Incheon International Airport, break. All hostile fixed-wing aircraft will have to come from enemy homelands, break. SAMs, triple-As, and helicopters are still active, break. That is all, break."

A resounding cheer rang out over the radio. It would only take two or three minutes for planes to be scrambled, but it would take 10 to 15 minutes for the KPAF to reach them from their bases in Kaesong or Haeju. It would take the PLAAF longer to reach them from their bases across the Yellow Sea or north of the Yalu River. Either way, the JFAF E-767 and the USAF E-3 would pick them up with plenty of warning.

"White Fox Squadron, AWACS Doku Gon Ryū, you have new orders," said their AWACS. "Yellow Fox Squadron will take over your patrol zones. You are to move west to Incheon and hold patrol patterns to intercept Chinese planes, out."

"2-3, are they serious?" asked Kugashi.

"If the AWACS says so, they must be," said Nara pulling into formation with his flight lead.

"You really think the Navy took out Incheon's airport?"

"If they didn't, then were in for a rude surprise. You up for that?" asked Nara.

Kugashi thought about that. He had four more aerial victories to his name and had obtained an idea of the limits of his skills. "Why not? We haven't had are daily streak of bay luck."

* * *

**0840 Hours; November 20****th****, 2010; Dongjak Ward, Seoul; Seoul National Capitol Area, Republic of Korea**

Harima was riding on top of an American M60A5 Patton medium tank. To his right was Hanai and to his left was the tank's commander who was scanning the horizon. The tanker was wearing a thick helmet with a large microphone turned to face his mouth and a tinted visor slip down to protect his eyes from the sun reflecting off the white snow. He was in a white-gray one-piece uniform not so different from a pilot's flight suit, but had thick Kevlar vest. The tank uniform also had no camouflage style.

"Hey, big guy," called an American corporal also riding on the tank.

"You talking to me?" asked Harima.

"Yeah, you know what's up ahead?" he asked.

Harima shrugged. "Lots of Chinese. We beat many back. We say there division or more."

Harima's English still needed some work, but he was able to talk to Americans, British, and Canadians, the English speaking nations of NATO.

"So, how's the war been for you guys, being new to NATO and shit?"

Harima paused and though about his response. "I don't know how to describe it. I don't speak English good enough… I don't think I could describe in my own language, you know?"

The American nodded sympathetically. "Yeah, I know what ya' mean buddy. Hey, who's in charge of your platoon? None of our guys know any of your ranks?"

"The man tall man with the glasses. He is Lieutenant Urashima Keitaro. The short one with the white hair is our Taicho... er, I mean Captain, Captain Hitsugaya," said Harima pointing to Lt. Urashima who was riding on a Japanese Type 10 ahead of them.

The tanks came to a sudden halt that almost sent soldiers flying.

"What happened?" asked the corporal.

"The chatter's all in Japanese," complained the tank commander. "I can't understand a word."

"Serge'," said the corporal pointing to Harima with his thumb.

"Oh, right. Hey, you, what are they saying?" asked switching the radio to a speaker so Harima could hear.

"Uh… they say minefield ahead and make room for engineers," said Harima.

**Ka-Boom!**

An artillery shell exploded behind them and landed on the front of an office building. The front of the building collapsed and rained down on Japanese and American soldiers as they scrambled to get away from the shower of concrete and steel. More shells landed in a straight line.

"Shit! They got a spotter on us!" shouted Kitsumori.

"Iē, they must have guessed we'd come with way and zeroed in on this street ahead of time!" shouted Hanai.

Retaliatory shots came from the south as counter-artillery tried to destroyed the Chinese battery. Unfortunately, the Chinese had relocated their guns to a new position.

Scattered artillery and mortars harassed the NATO battalions as they waited for a mine clearer to clear a path for them. A Japanese Type 74 with a bulldozer mounted on the front was sent forward. Since anti-tank landmines were designed to blast upwards, a dozer could flip them over and make them mostly harmless. Anti-personnel mines only pelted people with shrapnel which was totally harmless to a medium or heavy tank.

KPA and PLA fire support landed in random locations, often missing NATO units, but hitting the streets with excellent accuracy.

"Those mortars have to be close," said Captain Hitsugaya to his second in command. Mortars fired at very steep angles which allowed them to come down on top of their targets, but gave them limited range.

"Hai, but those guns are probably aren't even in Seoul," observed Lt. Matsumoto. "The Chinese could probably shell us from Incheon."

"That wouldn't be too accurate," said Lt. Urashima. He seemed to be a knack of coming into a conversation unnoticed. "They'd have to use extended range shells to make the 25 to 30 odd kilometers. I know there 130mm guns can do it, but the extended range shells have extra powder to give them the boost and that's pretty hard on their guns. Also this barrage is hitting the street too accurately. Plus the guns are firing from the north, not the east."

"It's obvious they aren't watching us because their guns are shelling positions behind us," said Matsumoto.

"That could change pretty quickly. We also have to worry about rocket batteries. KPAGF could bombard us from their side of the border with FROGs or SCUDs. They could even lobbed bio or chemical warheads at us," said Urashima.

"I don't think they have SCUDs," said Hitsugaya. "Frankly, I doubt they have a lot of arty that can shoot that far."

"Captain, we have to consider that we are 50km away from the DMZ. You have any idea how much firepower is there?" asked Urashima.

"A lot of it was moved south, Lieutenant. It's not as heavily fortified today as it was at the beginning of the year," said Hitsugaya. "Dammit, why did the South Koreans have to have their capitol so close to the border?!"

"They were considering changing it (2)," said Urashima. "A few years back they announced they were moving it further south because they were so close to the DMZ."

"Captain," said a soldier over the radio, "the engineers have cleared the mines. We can proceed."

An explosion went off and they lost contact with the soldier.

"Mount up!" shouted Hitsugaya. He wanted to get out of this killzone as soon as possible.

* * *

**0845 Hours; November 20****th****, 2010; Communist Airspace, Incheon; Seoul National Capitol Area, Republic of Korea (occupied)**

"Holy shit, looks like the Navy did a real number on the PLAAF," said Kugashi to Nara.

"Hai," said Nara in awe of the massive craters in the runways and taxiways, coupled with huge columns of smoke that blocked out the northern skies. A couple of blips appeared on Nara's search radar. "Looks like a response force."

It was inevitable that Chinese would send air cover from their homeland.

"Flankers," said White Fox 3-1. "Looks like our Russian friends from Seoul."

"Okay everybody, these bandits are Soviet aces so watch yourselves. Remember what they did to the Germans, and they're trained to fight Soviet pilots."

"Zeelyon'ij Nabega (Green Raider) Leader, to all Zeelyon'ij Nabega callsigns, Japanese fighters at dvyeh-nad-saht-cha-sov (12 O'clock)," said the lead pilot to his squadron.

"Comrade Lt. Colonel, we will strike a blow to these imperialist American-lapdogs."

"Easy, Vasili Mikailovich. Let's not get carried away," scolded a third pilot.

"Da, Comrade Captain," apologize the second pilot.

"Zeelyon'ij Nabega 4-1 here. The Capitalists are pulling into formation. Four groups of four, comrades," said a woman's voice.

"Ah, very well spotted Comrade Lieutenant," said the Lt. Colonel. "All planes, let them make the first move and we'll rip them apart from their. This is for the glory of Revolution!"

"What the fuck are they saying?" asked Captain Oneishi. The Russians had not counted on the Japanese's high technology and ability to listen in on their radio circuits.

"Beats me. Anyone speak Rosiyago (Russian language)?" asked Major Tsumoto, commander of White Fox Squadron.

"Iē."

"Not me."

"You're kidding, right?"

Japanese were encouraged to learn a second language. Unfortunately, Russian wasn't one of them.

Sixteen Japanese fighters were closing head long into eighteen Soviet fighters.

"Shit, missiles incoming!" shouted someone as a wave of full-active air-to-air missiles were launch from the Su-30s at the F-15s.

"Chaffs!" shouted several voices as they dropped chaff counter-measures.

There are seven kinds of guidance systems: semi-active, fully-active, heat-seeking, radio controlled, wire-guided, laser guided, and preprogrammed. The missiles currently streaking towards White Fox Squadron were fully-active radar missiles which unlike heat-seekers, which were popular for their cheapness and went for heat sources, the fully-active missiles went for a radar source. IR flares, or inferred flares, which generated large heat sources to distract heat-seekers didn't work on semi or fully-active missiles. For these, the chaff was used. The chaff was about the same size as an IR flare and were ejected from planes just like the IR flares, but they exploded and released a cloud of metal shavings that could distract radar missiles.

Nara and Kugashi broke off and dived. They lost one missile, but one was still on them. Nara and Kugashi went into a tight downward helix in which he hoped the heavy missiles would be unable to follow.

"Relentless bastard," muttered Nara seeing the little bugger in his rearview mirror.

"Above!" yelled Kugashi.

They jinked right to avoid a Soviet Flankers diving on them gun blazing. Nara saw a flash in his mirror two more Flankers sneaking up no them.

"Pull up," he ordered. 'Fuck these guys are good.'

A Soviet section came in groups of threes, as opposed to a NATO section of two. One pilot had broken off to dive on Nara and Kugashi while the other two moved in to ambush. It was a favorite Soviet style attack: flush out the enemy and drive them to the hunters. They took Sun Tzu very seriously when he said: All war is based on deception.

'Two can play at this game,' Nara thought. "Break right!"

The Flankers accelerated in a climb, something they could do better than the Eagle. Nara however had Kugashi break off in one direction just after they started the climb and he in the other. The Soviet pilots were confused.

"Natasha, I've lost the enemy," said one of the pilots to his section leader.

"Da, so have I. Ivan Anatolyevich, do you see those two?"

"Nyet, ma'am... wait, AHH!!-"

An explosion got Lt. Natasha Beria attention. Her wingman was just blown out of the sky by the two pilots she'd just lost. Her snarled and raced towards them, but the two Japanese pilots went into a thatch-wave. The criss-crossing pattern was a popular one among Capitalist pilots and when they worked to their two-man section formations well. Her eyes widened in realization at what was happening and she aborted her attack run.

She and her surviving wingman were almost lured into a trap where the NATO pilots would close the gap between them and engage with their guns, which could spray more rounds than theirs. A look in her mirror told her that they pursuers passed them.

"Vitali, come," she ordered.

"Da, Comrade."

"In coming missiles! Looks like Chinese SAMs," shouted Major Tsumoto. The PLAGF and PLAAF were shooting off a barraged of HongQi HQ-64 and Yitian TY-90 surface-to-air missiles. It was very shortsighted on the Chinese part, unusual for such an organized and disciplined military, to fired missiles into a 'fur ball' involving friendly and hostile planes. The Soviets and Japanese flares and chaffs were scattered throughout the skies over Incheon to avoid the missiles.

Nara was racing as full-afterburners with Kugashi to get clear of the clouds of counter-measurers. His warning lights were flashing on and off as missiles found him and lost him. He cut his afterburners, they were hard on the engines and waste fuel. Come to think of it, he needed to be more conservative with fuel or he wouldn't make it home.

A red warning light flashed across Nara's HUD alerting him of someone tracking him on radar and trying to lock-on to him. He checked the ground. Nothing. He checked his rearview mirror. Two Su-30s attacking with a vengeance for their lost wingman. Nara did a double-take. There were two black dots closing on the Flankers in an attack formation.

"Try to keep them on us," said Nara to Kugashi.

"Uh, hai, sir," said Kugashi wondering why his section lead was ordering him to allow a couple of Russian top guns to follow him. They flew in erratic patterns to keep the Soviets from getting a bead on them.

"White Fox 2-1, Fox-Two," said Captain Oneishi as he fired a heat-seeking AIM-7 Sidewinder at the wingman.

"Comrade Lieutenant! I have a missile on me!"

"Break left," she ordered. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her prey break off.

"White Fox 2-2, guns."

A volley of 20mm rounds streaked passed the Russian's cockpit. She heard a bang and a crack.

"Comrade, they've hit your number two engine!"

"Shack on the leader, he's trailing smoke," said Lt. Hyodo.

Nara was coming in from under the wingman.

"2-4 here, I got a lock," reported Kugashi.

"Take him," ordered Nara rolling out of the way.

"Fox-Two!"

The missiles dropped off its hardpoint, but didn't ignite.

"Missile shot failed," said Kugashi. The pilot he'd aimed for circled around to engage Nara and Kugashi head on.

"Fuck! I can't evade!" shouted Kugashi.

**Boom!**

"What… the… ?" said a dumbfounded Kugashi weakly.

Kugashi's missile had activated after a few second delay and slammed into the unsuspecting Russian.

"Vitali?" said the section lead weakly. "Comrade Lt. Colonel, I have lost both my wingmen and sustained damage. Request permission to return to base."

"I'm afraid Lieutenant, that we couldn't escape even if you wanted to. Fight to the end for the Revolution."

"Da, Comrade Lt. Colonel."

'Do svidonia Rodina (farewell, our Motherland),' she thought.

'Sumimasen,' thought Nara. "Guns!"

The 20mm rounds raked her tail. She pressed on the petals and jiggled the stick, but the responses were poor.

"Fox-Two."

The missile alarm blared in her ears and the HUD's displays were all in red. The missile exploded and without thought, she pulled the ejection seat.

Nara took one last look at the pilot he'd spent the last ten minutes, an exceptionally long air battle between two aces. The Russian took a look at the pilot who defeated her. She longed to have one more chance to blow his ass out of her skies.

"2-4, 2-3, we need to sanitize the skies before we head back."

"Hai, right behind you."

* * *

**0945 Hours; November 20****th****, 2010; 100km northeast of Jianggezhuang, Gulf of Chihli; Chinese Waters, People's Republic of China**

"General-Secretary, we should arrive at Jianggezhuang in half an hour," said the crew chief.

"Very good," he smiled. 'This will assure us victory.'

Jianggezhuang was a new naval yard built in a bay on the Shantung Peninsula. It was east of Qingdao, People's Liberation Army Navy North Sea Fleet Headquarters. Jianggezhuang was one the three main bases of the North Sea Fleet. The third was Huludao on the Gulf of Chihli. The other two were on small bays that let out into the Yellow Sea.

Jianggezhuang, unlike the other two, was strictly a submarine facility. It housed their diesel boats, nuke boats, and missiles boats. The missile boats were what General-Secretary Lao Zhang intended to mobilized. As Commander-in-Chief of the People's Liberation Army, he was the one with the authority to give the 'green light' to the People's Liberation Army's Second Artillery Corps, China's equivalent of the Soviet's Strategic Rocket Force or the Americans Strategic Missile Command.

He was going to mobilize four of PLAN Jin Class ballistic missile submarine, each armed with twelve JL-2 ICBMs. They would destroy South Korea, Japan, and perhaps Taiwan.

"Red August One, this is Patrol Boat #101312, please submit proper ID code," requested a woman on a small People's Armed Police patrol boat.

On the boat was a short petit woman. She appeared to be Asian, but she was actually Hispanic with a bit of makeup to conceal her true identity. Next to her was the only real Asian of the three people on the boat, but he was Japanese.

The woman stepped outside of the small pilot house to the rear were a white man was setting up a sniper rifle.

"Jason, you're only going to get one shot. Did you get their location?" asked a disguised Lt. Colonel Maya Solomon.

"Yeah, I specially designed this scope. I've never used it in action, but tests were pretty successful," said Lt. Colonel Jason Maiwald. At the helm was Colonel Jack Shinhachi. Solomon and Shinhachi were wearing PAP uniforms, but Maiwald was wearing plain cloths and a tac-vest. He was supposed to hide in a small compartment.

Maiwald had a CheyTac M200 sniper rifle. It fired the unique .408 caliber CheyTac cartridge. Currently the M200 only used the .408 cal and was the only gun to the .408 cal. It had a scope that was intergraded with a computer and could calculate for wind speed, wind direction, altitude, distance, drop-off rate, and the Curvature of the Earth. Maiwald had modified the scope so it was linked with a laptop that Solomon was operating. She was brief ahead of time by Maiwald on this program he designed to compensate for a target's speed and correct for light refraction.

He the chopper's course. He tapped the laser range finder to get on point. Then a second for a second. By comparing the two he had the target's speed. He would have to re-update before took his shot, but it would have him time to do the mental calculations. Maiwald wasn't trying to bring the Art of Sniping into the 21st Century, he was taking it into the 22nd.

Shinhachi watched his old friend motionless with his hand wrapped around the pistol grip. Gently, he placed a white phosphorous coated round in the chamber. He slowly closed the bolt and waited. He had his rifle mounted on a special bipod that helped cut down on some of the rocking caused by the sea.

Maiwald scanned the body of the Z-15. He found his target.

"I'm ready," he called to Solomon.

"He says he's ready," Solomon passed to Shinhachi.

"He can't miss," he said seriously. His eyes were dead and detached of any emotion. Solomon knew it was his one defense against the stress of this operation.

"Has he ever?"

"Yes," he said remembering the young deserting KGB agent he missed that gave Shinhachi the scars on his face.

"We have 3 minutes before we lose the target," she said. Solomon knew how to track a target and she knew she could eliminate the target if it did slip passed them, but it would be very messy. "Jack, you've done all you can. This is probably the most well thought out plan you've ever done. Emma would be… well maybe she wouldn't be proud, but… aw fuck it. It has to be done."

"… fire."

There was no noise because Maiwald was using a suppresser. The white phosphorous round streaked through the air at supersonic speeds burning with great intensity.

"Did you hear that?" asked the pilot hearing a small bang hitting the chopper.

"Hear wha-?"

The three American agents' faces were illuminated by the orange and yellow lights of the explosion. Maiwald had hit his target. The fuel tank. The burning phosphorous entered the tank and ignited a small fire that grew at breakneck speeds.

Shinhachi stared in awe of what he'd just done. Sure Maiwald had pulled the trigger, but he'd put this all into motion and planned the entire operation. He had told Maiwald what to expect and he was prepared accordingly. Solomon had man an innocent radio signal that confirmed the identity of the helicopter. She was backup in case things went awry, a skill she developed in tracking Soviet agents up close and personal.

"He's dead," said Solomon looking at the wreckage with her binoculars.

"Jason, confirmed," order Shinhachi. He waited at least two out of the three of them to be sure.

"… I see him. Yeah, we got 'em," said Maiwald in a monotone. He was neither proud nor ashamed of what he just did. It didn't bother him he just killed a political leader since the guy was about to start a nuclear war, but he'd never been in on such a nerve-racking mission before.

"We're going," Shinhachi said. He was running off battery power which would be very had to hear and the boat was too small to be easily noticed by radar or maritime patrol planes.

Maiwald was in a small compartment with his equipment under the deck. The Cheytac M200 was designed for covert ops who needed a sniper rifle that could be folded and retracted to smaller sizes for conceal-ability. Also with him were a few items from the crash site they couldn't afford to be taken to a facility to be examined by the Chinese security services.

When they reach a certain point they would sink their boat. Thanks to the war, the Chinese were keeping almost all their ships, both civilian and military, away from the Yellow Sea. Even if they got spotted they could easily talk their way out. They would disappear with the Danaan.

"E Pluribus Unum," he said suddenly. It had just popped into his head and he had no idea why it did or why he said it.

"What?" asked Solomon, not really paying attention to her commander.

"Nothing," he said.

Shinhachi had no idea why he said it, but he had just said the motto of the United States of America:

From Many, One

* * *

**1001 Hours; November 20****th****, 2010; Dongjak Ward, Seoul; Seoul National Capitol Area, Republic of Korea**

Seoul was kinda' beautiful.

**Ka-Pow!**

With the mix of awe-inspiring historical buildings and sparkling modern buildings.

**Boom!**

Yes, it was a beautiful city. Harima had admired the 800-year-old shrine they passed half an hour ago. He wished he could enjoy the sights better.

"In coming!"

And wished there weren't Chinese and North Koreans trying to kill him.

Harima was firing 7.62x51mm steel-jacketed rounds into KPA soldiers who were continuing the failed Chinese counter-attack from yesterday. He reminded himself to send a thank you letter to whoever made this rifle… or the American who gave him this rifle. He adjusted aperture sights by turning a small dial just behind the chamber.

He fired a single shot into the chest of a KPA machine gun.

**Boom!**

"Shit, that arty is getting pretty accurate!" shouted Hanai.

It was true. The Chinese artillery and mortars were landing on their positions. Harima saw a second make a run for the unoccupied machine gun. He fired a shot, but the man tripped and inadvertently dodged the bullet. Harima fired three shots into the cinder block wall the soldier had fallen behind. Harima was just trying to suppress the soldier, but to his surprise the steel-jacketed ammo traveling at 3,200 ft/s actually went through the blocks. Harima looked down at his rifle and then at the empty casings.

The air was filled with the chatter of Kalashnikovs as 7.62x39mm cartridges pelted the Japanese and Americans from street corners, doorways, office and apartment windows, and even rooftops of lower buildings.

"Harima, can you get a bead on that tank?" asked Asou.

"He's too far out," answered Harima.

A KPAGF T-55 was taking advantage of the rubble fill streets and ducking around behind them. It would pop out and fired a 100mm shell at the M60s and Type 10s.

They heard a roar from behind getting steadily louder and they looked up to catch a brief glimpse of a Thunderbolt. They then had to shield their faces from burning hot shell casings from the 30mm gatling cannon. The Thunderbolt swiftly rolled and flew out of sight leaving the burning remains of the Soviet-made medium tank.

An American Patton tank bravely rolled forward with a squad moving behind it. Asou led 5th squad with the Americans. Harima saw something move on a pedestrian bridge that spanned the street. He realized it was a person and the person was mounted something on his shoulder.

"RPG!" shouted Harima. He tried to kill the anti-tank soldier, but he was forced to duck as a rifleman opened fire and sprayed bullets on 5th squad. The rocket screeched through the air and slammed into the front of the Patton's armor. The coaxial gun swept the bridge and Harima saw the soldier fall over dead.

A second rocket was fired from street level and hit the Patton in the side. It broke the track on the right side of the tank and left it unable to move in anything but a circle. The Patton's gunner responded to being disabled by a blast from the 105mm gun.

"Hostile tank! 1 O'clock!" shouted someone over the radio.

A second T-55 pulled into the intersection ahead and fired. It hit a hapless Stryker APC and destroyed it. One of is tires went crashing through a window behind Harima and nearly colliding with Toyotomi who was trying to call in fire support.

Harima saw a third tank pull out from an alley beyond the T-55. It looked like another T-55…

"Is that a…?" Harima started to asked.

The third tank fired upon the T-55 and struck it in its exposed rear. A second shot, probably a sabot, slammed into the rear of the turret. On a tank, the munitions were stored in the back of the turret and the gunner would sit in the front. A turret was normally heavily armored, but the T-55 was over 50-years-old and the Soviets didn't like to export good equipment for fear of it being used against them.

The tank in the alley pulled out and Harima saw recognized it as a friendly tank. It was another Patton, they looked similar from the front, but in profile they could distinguish it.

Asou lead his squad forward through the maze of guard posts and rubble. It occurred to Asou that the buildings were getting shorter. Also he saw the foothills ahead were getting high and closer. If he had to guess, they were pretty close to Han-gang, but he would expect…

"Oh shit," he groaned seeing a whole platoon was camouflage soldiers stand up in firing positions. "Get down!"

A wire-guided anti-tank rocket destroyed the Patton tank. The rest of the vehicles were stuck behind the disabled one. Asou wondered if this was part of some plan on the enemies' part. The steady increase of fire made him think it was.

Infantry, both American and Japanese, climbed over the piles of debris around the disabled Patton to reinforce the two squads. The Type 74 with the dozer blade mounted rammed one of the rumble piles while the gunner of the Patton tried to provide support from his, or hers, stationary position.

"Frag out!" shouted Ikuro to her assault team. Abarai raised the grenade sights on his Type 89 assault rifle and fired his M203. He ducked down to reload, but he heard the scream of pain from soldiers being shredded by shrapnel. He didn't really want to look anyways.

Kitsumori was having a really hard time. His LMG was most accurate when mounted on its bipod, but it he was slower moving then riflemen… by a second, but that was all it took to get shot. Also, machine guns because of their continuous automatic fire were easily recognizable and drew a lot of attention. In short, he was drawing fire from nine separate PLA soldiers. He was crease firing and hugged the ground.

Harima fired a long burst and swept through the PLA ranks. Hanai joined Harima while Jupei crawled on her stomach and help lead Kitsumori to a safer location.

Harima found that he too drew fire because of the long tube he had slung over his back with his pack. It wasn't surprising the enemy would want to eliminate a soldier with an anti-tank rocket launcher.

A loud wail from above signaled the approach mortars. Without thinking Harima charged the doors to an office building using his helmet and body armor to protect himself. The others followed him indoors where they would be shelters.

"Kenji, I doubt that door was locked," said Hanai. Looking at the steel and Plexiglas doors he just knocked off its hinges.

"Oh…"

The glass windows on the atrium shattered from shrapnel.

"Man down!" shouted someone.

Kurosaki stood up at the words and looked to see who got hit. He saw Shibata clutching a bleeding leg.

"Hold still baka (idiot)," he cursed pulling out a pair of medical scissors that doubled as tweezers.

"Who are you calling baka, strawberry," cursed Shibata in pain, making light of a translations Ichigo's name.

"Shut up kid, and let Ichigo work," berated Abarai pinning him down by the shoulders.

Ichigo held a small LED flashlight between his teeth and parted the wounded with his fingers. There was something sickening about working on a friend as opposed to a stranger. Ichigo pulled out a small steel pellet and put it a plastic sandwich bag. He checked three other entry points for the small, but lethal objects. He tucked the sandwich bag into Shibata's coat pocket.

"Shibata, you need to show this to the corpsmen when you get a MASH (mobile army surgical hospital)," said Kurosaki in a forceful tone.

"I ain't going no where! Just wait tell I get my hands on-!"

"Shut up," ordered Mori smacking him across the face. See glared and leveled a figure at a point between his eyes. "You have a multiple holes in your leg. You be a good boy and get it treated."

He looked at her in shock. He opened his mouth, but no words came. He merely nodded. Slowly, his eyes closed and he fell asleep. Nobody had noticed the sedative Kurosaki had injected into him until after he pulled it out.

"Is that wise?" asked Mori.

"Hai, Oka-chan," said Kurosaki making a note about eh sedative for the corpsmen.

"The barrage is lifting," said Asou. "Put him on a HMMWV bound for the rear."

The exited the building with the fire team blasting away. The engineers were carrying Shitbata back to the vehicles.

**Crash!**

It seems that Type 74 with the dozer blade had given up on pushing through the rubble piles and rammed the disabled M60 out of the way. Since the Patton was a vehicle and had wheels, of sorts, it was much easier to move than the mound of concrete, rock, asphalt, and steel.

The Type 74 rolled off to the side pushing the Patton tank to the sideway.

As an American M1A2 Abram rolled through the opening the Chinese tossed smoke grenades and made a retreat to their next defensive line.

* * *

**0800 Hours; November 21****st****, 2010 (+3 UTC); Losiny Ostrov National Park, Moscow; Moscow Oblast, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic; Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic**

**Korean Standard Time (+9 UTC): 1400 Hours; November 20****th****, 2010**

(This section is in Russian unless said otherwise)

Losiny Ostrov National Park was a large forested area in northeast Moscow that stretched outside of the Moscow Oblast. It was once upon a time the private hunting ground of the Czars, but was made a national park in 1983.

A man in his early 60s was sitting on a park bench. He looked exhausted and was unshaven. He was wearing a black business suit with a grey thick long overcoat over it to keep him warm from the cold of the Russian winter already setting in.

He was alerted by the sound of crunching snow as someone approached. General-Secretary Nikolay Alexandrovich Bolotnikov, chairman of the Soviet Communist Party and chairman of the Soviet Politburo, turned to face Lieutenant General Joseph Ivanovich Penovaski, leader of the revolting Soviet people.

Penovaski smiled and snapped to attention. His eyes twitched with movement. It seemed any sudden movements he made caused his eyes to twitch.

"Glorious Comrade General-Secretary Bolotnikov, it is an honor," said Penovaski honestly.

"Please, Joseph Ivanovich, no need for formalities. Let us take a walk in the woods," Bolotnikov starting to follow that snow covered path with the trees.

"Spa-see-ba Glorious… er, Comrade Bolotnikov," said Penovaski.

They walked side-by-side.

"Quite beautiful, isn't it? I took my daughter here when I was Minister of Foreign Affairs," said Bolotnikov nostalgically. "Have you ever been here?"

"Nyet, Comrade. I grew up in East. I was never in the Western part of the Rodina until I was accepted at Frunze Military Academy (3). There were forests like this though. I also remember collective farms and how our school and others would help with the yearly harvest (4). I remember all that hard work… and it was never enough," he said sadly.

"Is this why?" asked Bolotnikov coming to a dead stop and looked at Penovaski.

"Da. I wish to make the Rodina a great place. There are too many old men living in our old archaic backward ways. We can never complete the Revolution of Glorious Comrade Lenin because we don't change. Look at us!" he screamed looking furious. "We never change, but the Americans do! The Germans do! The British do! Even the Chinese do it! Why can't we be successful like them?!"

Bolotnikov looked up towards the sky. "Because we fear change. It is in human nature to resist leaving familiar territory."

Penovaki look at his Commander-in-Chief and deflated. "Da, Comrade."

They continued to walk through the woods. Politician and soldier side-by-side. They did not speak for a long time.

"It was never my intent to kill you," said Penovaski suddenly. "I was brought into the armed forces during General-Secretary Gorbachev's time. I entered Frunze when General-Secretary Putin looked to bring youth into the regimental staff. I did well for a farm boy from Khabarovsk and got my own division. I believe the Pacific commanders wanted to use me as an example for others to follow since they produce the smallest numbers of officers."

"So what becomes of me in your Rodina?"

"You may stay. Your skills in foreign relations could be useful to me. If not, well your daughter will need you and I'm sure the Americans will find some use for you," said Penovaski idly.

Bolotnikov smiled sadly, "She'll have to take care of herself. Although you may think I could live on, your staff will not. You must not forget who we are. We have no trust in our system. It is a true Darwinian world, our political system."

He said this as he gently reached into an inside pocket of his coat and drew out a Makarov Pistol Makarova (Makarov PM or PMM). He released the safety with his thumb and raised the handgun.

"I love the Rodina as much as my daughter, Anya. You promise she will be safe?"

"She'll be more untouchable than the Standing Ministers of the Politburo (5). Even from within. She will probably be hidden by the American counter-intelligence community and domestic security forces. As far as the GRU and KGB are concerned, she doesn't exist. Can you think of a war for her to be safe?"

"Nyet," pointing the gun at Penovaski's forehead. "We both want what's best for the Revolution."

"I will not shoot you," said Penovaski showing shock in his eyes. This was never a part of his plan. He didn't want this. He respected and admired this man's vision, but hated the other ministers who dragged their feet and stopped him. Sure, Penovaski thought he would be the better chairman, but he dreamed of having a man who had long experience in the Politburo. Someone who the Americans trusted. It was going all wrong.

"I see. Joseph," said Bolotnikov shaking his head sadly like a teacher explaining to a student why he failed a test he worked so hard on. "You are too young to understand. Both of us can't live for a new great Union and for the Revolution to be complete, you fool. It's over. I realize that last night. That is why I called you to meet me. I have arranged everthing."

"Nyet! Don't!" screamed Penovaski realizing what was about to happen.

**Bang!**

"Y-y-you… BASTARD!" screamed a man to the heavens that man so loudly snow fell off the tree.

Nikolay Alexandrovich Bolotnikov lay dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

"… w-why? It wasn't supposed to end this way," said Penovaski.

He looked at the dawn sky. He saw all in the armed forces. He didn't fear the KGB or the GRU because he friend Grishin would take charge of the Ministry of Internal Affairs that ran the KGB. He did not fear the CIA, the BND, the SIS, or Naicho because he had the KGB and GRU under his control. He didn't worry about the Soviet people because he had fresh people to come in, like former head of agriculture of Poland and a woman who was educated by Western medical standards, to actually improve the quality of life for the people. He did not fear the Chinese because he grew up near China and understood their ways. He did have some concerns about Yugoslavia, but their military was inferior to the Soviet Armed Forces. But he knew the Americans, Germans, and British would not trust him. The Belgians would probably hold a European Union meeting on the subject. The Japanese were a new and very serious threat that nobody has fully grasped, but they were too new to the game. They would still look to the Americans for examples to follow. That was why he wanted Bolotnikov, a man he knew the Americans would trust. Even if they tried to convince him to overthrow Penovaski, but as long as they were talking to the Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialistchekikh Respublik (Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic) it would be fine.

"You're the fool," he said, his voice cracking. "The Revolution needed you to work. We could have had a chance to coexist with the Capitalists with you."

He never felt so alone. He was suddenly vulnerable.

Penovaski left the park alone. He would send for a proper burial for the late general-secretary. It wouldn't matter. The armed forces, the lower Party members, and the people would accept any excuse he made up because he was general-secretary.

"Because I'm General-Secretary Joseph Ivanovich Penovaski, eh? That's all it takes to make things happen… it's that easy to be corrupted by power?" he wondered out loud. No wonder nothing change or improved. "So for change I need to make so of the people's hardships and discomforts a reality to the Supreme Soviet (5). But how?"

He needed a new plan and fast. If he could make the USSR a better place and appeal to the Westerners, then he could avoid war with the West.

"First things first," he said defiantly. "I need to take charge officially."

He reached the motorway where a Red Army UAZ was sitting. He got in and started the engine. As he drove to his headquarters. His revolution was over, but the Revolution of Comrade Lenin and the Bolsheviks was far from realization.

As he drove he hummed a tune, a favorite tune of his he'd learned while helping with the harvest with the reservist soldiers and farmers called Poliushko Polie (6).

* * *

**1600 Hours; November 20****th****, 2010; Dongjak Ward, Seoul; Seoul National Capitol Area, Republic of Korea**

Harima was eating dinner while he could. He had no idea that thousands of kilometers away two men were walking through the woods and talking. It wouldn't really matter to him… yet, but it would someday.

Harima was a private first class in the Japanese Federal Army and for him war was here in the now. Big pictures weren't too important him. That was what generals and admirals were for. Harima was just concerned about finishing the cheap ramen noodles and few pieces of imported beef for protein.

Harima noticed movement and instinctively looked up. "Konnichiwa, Lt. Urashima."

"Konnichiwa, Pvt. Harima," said Urashima with a polite smile and tapping the brim of his helmet.

"Sir, what's going on?"

"I don't know, but for some reason the PLA are falling back across the Han," said Lt. Urashima with a shrug. In truth he knew a lot more, but he was supposed to tell the NCOs first. He was looking for Asou. He found Asou eating alone and looking a Japanese-English dictionary.

"Staff Sergeant, a word?"

"Hai, sir," said Asou standing.

"We got an ABP (all points bulletin) from Central HQ. Nobody has any idea of what, but there has been an explosion of radio traffic in both the China and Russia. It appears they two are unconnected, but something big is going on and it looks like nobody knows what it is. We know that an order for all troops to stand down is being broadcasted across the Soviet Union, but we don't know who is giving it. The Chinese sent an encrypted message from a patrol craft in the Gulf of Chilhi to Zhongnanhai. Then Zhongnanhai sent a message to Ministry of National Defense Building. They sent a message to all the People's Liberation Army bases and commands. That's when all hell broke loose and there is so much chatter nobody knows what's happening, not even the Chinese. All we do know is that there is going to be a public announcement made tonight by the Chinese Central Government. Do you understand?"

It was a little too much to take in. "What the hell does it all mean?"

"That's the point, literally nobody knows."

"What do we do?"

"Keep it to your self. If the men ask questions, you are to tell them that the Chinese have withdrawn to the north side of the Han and we are holding until we can organize."

"Is that true?" asked Asou.

"Hai, but we're not giving the whole story. We don't know if this is good or bad."

"I-is… is the war over?" asked Asou quietly.

Urashima's smiled faded. He thought about that carefully. "… I doubt it. It all rests on this speech the Chinese are giving."

* * *

I hope ya'll managed to keep up with this chapter. I know it was kinda' a mess, but I think it was okay.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. Coagulants are cell platelets that ideally converge on a bleeding wound on a mammal's body and clot it to stem the bleeding until it heals properly. It is a process called coagulation. Most medical kits include a coagulant of some kind to help stop bleeding. Some munitions, biological weapons, or chemical weapons have anti-coagulants which stop the platelets from sticking together and clotting a wound. There are also diseases that people are sometimes born with that either have a lot platelet count in the blood stream or make them weak and unable to stick together properly.

2. On August 11, 2004, the government of the Republic of Korea announced they were going to move the capitol to the city of Gongju which is about 120km south of Seoul, and roughly 170km south of the DMZ. It was supposed to be finished by 2012, but due to some part of the Republic of Korea's Constitution they cannot move all branches of their government out of Seoul. Since Seoul was the capitol of Korea for centuries (before the Japanese invasion and Korean War), many Koreans are resisting the change of the capitol, including their court systems. Apparently the South Koreans cannot move their legislative or judicial branches without a series of conditions being met. Only the military, law enforcement, and executive branch can be moved. No announcements have been made since 2004.

3. Frunze Military Academy was the Soviet Armed Forces officers' academy. It was for men in their 20 or early 30s. They would be checked for competency and patriotism and educated in Soviet military doctrine. If they completed they would be middle rank officers of the Red Army (captain, major). If they did well (having Party connections helps) and they were above the age of 32 they could go to Voroshilov Military Academy of the Soviet Army General Staff where they can get promotions from Lt. Colonel to Colonel General.

4. In the Soviet Union during the harvest season, secondary schools are emptied (even in major cities like Moscow) and sent to aid the farmers with their harvest. Although family members of the Soviet Politburo, or a branch close to its level, can be exempted. The harvest is extremely important to Russia because is tends to fall below expected production and then they are forced to buy the needed grains from the United States.

5. The Supreme Soviet is the name for Soviet Union's central government. It is a name equal to that of the Federal Government in the United States or Central Committee or Central Government in China.

6. Poliushko Polie translates into English as O Field My Song, or Song of the Fields. It was written in 1935. It is an extremely popular song throughout Russia in both the military and people. It isn't a difficult song either, I know because I've read the lyrics. It is considered by some to be the unofficial national anthem of the Soviet Union and after the fall of the USSR the Russians wanted to make it the official national anthem of the Russian Federation. That was rejected and a variation of the Hymn of the Soviet Union, called the Hymn of the Russian Federation, was made the national anthem. It is also treated as the song of the Soviet Red Army.


	58. Chapter 58: Of Mice and Men

Hey ya'll. First, this is not the last chapter, but we're not that far from it. I think this story will end with chapter 60. Chapter 59 will have once last battle and the resolution of the story. Chapter 60 will be an epilogue.

I recently purchased Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid. I bought the box set so it came with the OVA. Tessa gets drunk and can't remember where she put her teddy bear while she was drunk and toddle around the ship. I won't ruin it for ya'll, just watch. Another nice thing is that it has all the specs for the Tuatha de Danaan's crew, the sub it's self, all their callsigns, members of the teams, etc. They also listed a bunch of other specs about their organization. It's worth every penny for at least the OVA.

I also just watched the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. I found it a very entertaining show that horrifyingly enough reminds me of my school. I would say I'm something like Kyon, I'm extremely sarcastic and I feel like I'm the only voice of reason because I'm surrounded by people like Haruhi, but less attractive and more impulsive and hyper. Can't say I know people like Mikuru or Koizumi, but I did know a girl kinda' like Yuki, quiet and liked to read and spoke in a monotone. I was annoyed they charge so much for just three episodes a DVD, but hey I watch it online and it's a good anime.

I also played Turning Point: Fall of Liberty. Basically, Winston Churchill died before the Battle of Britain and the Great Britain lost World War II. This all takes place before Pearl Harbor so America never entered the war. In the 1950s Nazi Germany invades the United States (can you imagine such an absurd thing?). I was skeptical of the concept and I was disappoint that it fell even lower than my expectations. The game's graphics aren't much to speak of. The plot is vague. I feel no attachment to the characters. There are glitches in the sound. Frankly, it just isn't a good game. It's like some rip off of Halo, Red Alert 2, and Killzone combined with Medal of Honor, and they didn't do a good job of combining it. The multi-player sucks even more.

I don't own any trademarked or copywrite item. Please leave a review and/or tell a friend.

* * *

**Chapter 58: Of Mice and Men**

"The best-laid plans of mice and men

Often go awry."

A quote from Robert Burn's poem 'To a Mouse'; it inspired the title to John Steinbeck's novella Of Mice and Men

**1630 Hours; November 20****th****, 2010; Zhongnanhai, Beijing; Beijing Municipality, People's Republic of China**

"What do you mean you can't prove anything?!" demanded Vice General-Secretary Qiao Ruihuan furiously.

"… uh, General-Secretary Ruihuan, the thing is… ummmm… the Americans must have taken the black boxes with them… and any evidence of fowl play. It did take a response team an hour to reach the crash site," explained Director of the People's Armed Police, General Wu Zhiyuan. He was sweating profusely and was wondering if he was going to live to see tomorrow.

"You found nothing unusual?" asked General Xi Qinglui, Executive Vice Chairmen of the Central Military Commission.

"It was a fuel tank explosion that destroyed the helicopter."

"A bomb, perhaps?"

"Bù (no). We saw no indications of a bomb. The chopper was checked for such things and the explosion originated from inside the fuel tank. A bomb would have normally have been placed on the outside for easier planting. The unusual thing we found was a few traces of phosphorous, but it was so small that it could have been in there the whole time," stated Zhiyuan.

"Very well, you are dismissed."

Zhiyuan left the room as quickly as could without running.

"What do we do now?" asked Propaganda Minister He Jinbao. He had the speech all lined up for Ruihuan, but part of the plan was to have evidence of the Americans conspiracy to kill Zhang. It would not be made public, but quietly used to blackmail the American President so that the People's Army could be withdrawn from Korea and more importantly the embargo be lifted.

"I thought they would ambush Zhang at Jianggezhuang," said Minster of State Councilors Deng Ziyang.

'That's why you're not involved in armed services,' thought General Qinglui. "So we only get half of what we hoped to achieve?"

"Something like that. When do we go before the media?" asked Ruihuan.

"19:00 O'clock (7:00pm)," said Jinbao.

"Very well. Make sure all armed services and the people hear this. It ends now."

"We haven't really talked to President Jong-Il about any of this," pointed out a non-voting minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1).

"Too bad for them. The North Korean are on their own for now on. We have our own national interests to worry about and I feel that ours are more important since we play a much bigger role on the international scale," said Jinbao.

"It's true. This war is going to destroy us at this rate. I've heard unconfirmed reports from the Intelligence Bureau that the Americans are considering using their stealth planes to bomb our dams," said Qinglui.

A shudder went around the table. The idea a something like the Three Gorges Dam being destroyed was unthinkable. China had thousands of dams that employed millions and provided much needed power. All it would take would be one of the Americans 'bunker-buster' bombs and they could destroy any dam with one hit. The Three Gorges Dam was the largest in the world and its destruction could put half a province under water and the rest without power.

"Why didn't they do it from the beginning? They could have defeated us in a matter of days," wondered Jinbao.

"NATO is easily swayed by public opinion. It would appear as outright murder. The same reason we didn't bomb nuclear power plants or dams in Japan, we would have alienated too many people and would have opened ourselves to those kinds of attack," said Qinglui blandly.

* * *

**1700 Hours; November 20****th****, 2010; USS Tuatha de Danaan, Location Classified**

"This is Ansuz (2) to Overlord Neptune."

The Danaan was sitting near a SOSUS (3). The US Navy had designated a few for communication duty since they went directly to a fleet command post.

"Code in Ansuz."

Captain Testarossa whispered in her password.

There was a high pitched screech as the line was swept for bugs, taps, or some kind of breach.

"We're clear Tessa, SITREP," said Admiral David Pollowitz, commander of the Office of Navy Intelligence.

"John has returned and is resting with his team. I can't believe the Army actually went through with it," she said shaking her head.

"It wasn't purely an Army op, Tessa. He and his sidekicks had to have gotten that PAP (People's Armed Police) patrol boat from somewhere, right?"

Testarossa could just see his grin in her mind. She frowned, "Did we really have to take it that far?"

"Kill one man? We could have ordered you to fire cruise missiles at Beijing. There are also a bunch of nuclear plants and dams on the Chinese's east coast that are pretty easy to strike. That's what CIA wanted."

"Why didn't we?" asked Testarossa, not complaining but curious.

Pollowitz shrugged, even though Testarossa couldn't see it. "The Air Force wouldn't commit any of their facilities or planes for such an operation. Neither would I. We're too close to winning without needing to bomb and kill Chinese civilians."

"That seems a little too unusually levelheaded for our command staff. The Chinese have killed a lot of Koreans and Japanese, so why aren't we going for the old eye-for-an-eye thing?"

"Iraq," said Pollowitz in a word.

"Ah," nodded Testarossa. The US Armed Forces couldn't afford bad press since the Invasion of Iraq in 2003-2009. Easily the most embarrassing and painful 6 years of the United States Armed Forces were in since those 7 years in Vietnam. "Any idea of what this speech is about?"

"Some. I think the Chinese are really done. They don't have any more air support in Korea and most of their Northern Fleet is destroyed. They have two corpses in Korea and I just don't see how they can support them."

"What do we do?"

"I think the Danaan has finished its wartime tasks. You're to return to your base of operations Merida (4)."

"Understood. I'll have to drop off Compass Rose Two in Japan. I believe he also wants to hear the Chinese speech. You know how analysts are," she said sweetly.

Pollowitz nodded. He always thought of Teletha Testarossa as the daughter he never had. "Yeah, I know. You take care, Overlord Neptune out."

Meanwhile, in another compartment…

"Compass Rose Two to Six."

"Go ahead, Two."

"I seem to remember you saying we weren't a black ops corps."

"We aren't, Yank."

Colonel Shinhachi sighed. This operation would probably haunt him until the day he died. "A new contact of mind in the Naichō says the Chinese haven't found anything suspicious. We took fragments of the fuel tank with bullet holes in them and both black boxes."

Major General Richard Elliot, a SAS officer and commander of Task Force Compass Rose, nodded. This operation of purely an American one and he would probably be the only one outside of the US Intelligence Community to know what happened. "We never speak of this again."

"I would prefer it that way… dammit I don't know how to face anyone at home anymore."

"Don't think about it too hard. You have achieved my orders."

"I doubt that, sir."

"Why?" asked Elliot in surprise.

"Chinese commander is a man named General Yuan Xiao, he is a fanatical Communist and true believer in the Chinese Revolution. He's something of a dying breed in China, but he doesn't come across as the kind of man who surrenders. He'll probably raise a big stink once he's home."

"… Bloody hell, what a nuisance people like him are," cursed Elliot.

"One more thing. I heard from my contact in Moscow."

"What happened?" asked Elliot dubiously.

"Bolotnikov is dead. He committed suicide. There is some angry chatter on the Reds' part. I think they wanted Bolotnikov alive and working for them."

"Makes sense. They probably wanted him for foreign relations. The blighter was very good at it. But can we prove that's the way he wanted things?"

"Probably not. For now, the Soviets aren't going to war with us. They actually may never go to war with us as long as we don't get in their way. Penovaski is like our President, they're more interested in domestic reform than military policy. The real hair razor is the next guy."

"But why the revolution?" asked Elliot, it didn't make sense.

"Russians don't exactly make sense by our standards. Also, if you want to make changes in that country, you have to put guns to peoples' heads. That's an educated guess though, as your intelligence chief," said Shinhachi wryly.

"Jolly good work, Colonel. But time will only tell, right?"

"Of course. You know how things are in the USSR. One big crisis and the shit will hit the fan. This is Compass Rose Two, out."

"Compass Rose Six, out."

* * *

**1859 Hours; November 20****th****, 2010**

Around the world people were sitting in front of TVs and tuning in onto news networks.

The entire White House staff was sitting in front of TV in the Oval Office. The United States Armed Forces Joint Chiefs of Staff were sitting in their meeting room glued to the screen. All across Washington DC, Arlington VA, Langley VA, Ft. Meade MD, Andrews AFB, and other bases, government offices, and intelligence bureaus were staring transfixed.

NATO and EU staff in Brussels, Belgium were also watching with held breath. In Berlin the members of the German Parliament, Chancellery, and the Chancellor herself were waiting. People from Istanbul to Tokyo wondered what was going to be said.

Men and woman in the new Presidential and Congress buildings in Priština, Kosovo were wondering what was going to be said.

The South Korean government in their safe havens in Pusan wondered what if the Chinese were really going to pullout.

Taiwanese government leaders in T'aipei, Taiwan wondered if the 'mighty' People's Liberation Army was finally defeated.

An enraged North Korean government glared at their TV screen at the Presidential Palace in Pyongyang, Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

In Beijing, Qiao Ruihuan took one last deep breath and walked out onto a stage. Cameras flashed. People watching could see him stand behind a podium with the National Emblem of the Republic of China, which was a red circle with the Forbidden Palace at Tiananmen Square, five gold stars of the union of the Chinese people, and encircled by wheat sheaves. Behind him was a Chinese flag on his left and right.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the proud People's Republic of China," said Qiao Ruihuan in Mandarin-Chinese, official language of the Chinese government and military.

"I have grave news for each and every one of you."

The room went deafly silent.

"This morning before 10:00 O'clock, General-Secretary Lao Zhang was on board a helicopter over the Gulf of Chihli. Due to mechanical failure… there was an explosion and his helicopter crash."

There were audible gasps from the audience.

"There were no survivors."

Now it sounded like people in the audience were crying openly. Ruihuan was bracing himself for one of the biggest lies of his career.

"It seems that the helicopter's tragic accident was because of exhausted crews and lack of proper parts due to the war. We have seen an increase of such accidents due to the intensive wartime operations. Now that it has cost us our dear General-Secretary I fear what tragedy could befall the People's Republic."

The audience sounded a little confused. So were world leaders.

"I have received reliable reports that our forces being outsourced by out enemies. We cannot keep up with them. We have fought well against a formidable foe, but it must now end."

NATO leaders cheered. South Korean and Taiwanese leaders abandoned all sense of dignity and danced about yelling wildly in celebration.

"As General-Secretary of the Communist Party. The lose of General-Secretary Zhang was a serious blow. He alone knew our plans of war and I'm afraid we cannot continue without him. He had hoped for peace and was always trying to find a solution with the Westerners."

That was a lie. Zhang never tried to speak with the Westerners. Zhang hadn't even spoken to a Western leader since President Crane called him in the spring.

"I will complete his work and end this war. Today our troops can begin the return to a heroes welcome. It ends tonight!"

Slowly people started to sound excited.

"This is not an emission of defeat! We have in fact achieved a new and greater victory! One of peace and understanding! In that, we the People's Republic of China have won!"

A wild cheer echoed from the audience. NATO leaders shook their heads. It was all for show and to save face. The Chinese would be begging for peace. The question was, were they the winners? South Korean and southern Japan had taken a beating, but Korea took worse and Japan had had a head start on reconstruction. China still had their functioning industries and no damage to their nation from the war… not including a covert operation or two. Still, the People's Liberation Army was finally withdrawing once and for all.

Meanwhile, in Seoul, 5th squad was wildly cheering and laughing. The more powerful of their two enemies was defeated.

'I did it!' thought Harima triumphantly. 'I'll be home soon, Yakumo.'

* * *

**1000 Hours; November 22****nd****, 2010; National Assembly Building, Seoul; Seoul National Capitol Area, Republic of Korea**

The National Assembly building was located on Yeouido Neighborhood, of the Yeongdeungpo Ward. Yeouido was an on island in the Han River in the middle of Seoul.

"I am Captain Shao Wung, aide to Lieutenant General Hei Tang, commander of the IV Corps of the 2nd Army," said Captain Wung in English.

"I am Lieutenant General Bradley Newsome, commander of X Corps 8th Army and commander of US Operations in Korea."

General Tang and Newsome shook hands.

"I am Lieutenant General Keiji Honnoji, commander of Japanese Ground Operations in Korea."

"My superior is pleased to meet you General Honnoji. He is very interested in meeting the commander of the Japanese Forces," said Wung.

"Really?"

"Yes. You're attacks at Taegu and Kunwi really took us off guard. Colonel Senior Jiang, one of our division commanders also wished to be here, but was unable to leave his duties."

"That's not a problem. We really just need to come to an agreement," said Newsome.

"Of course," said Wung.

Newsome placed a piece of paper on the table in front of Wung and Tang.

"This is the ceasefire agreement. You will see the signatures of both yours and ours leaders."

Wung whispered the translation into his superior's ears who nodded.

"It just requires our signatures, gentlemen."

Tang nodded and Wung handed him a pen. He reached for the document and signed his name in Pinyin, the Chinese characters. Honnoji signed his name in Kanji, Chinese-based Japanese characters. Newsome was the only one who signed in Latin characters. Wung had to sign as a translator to show he was present and translated for his superior. He surveyed the names finding that the British, German, Dutch, Turkish, Danish, French, Belgian, Italian, South Korean, and other officers had already signed.

General Tang said something to Wung.

"I'm sorry we had to meet under this circumstances," Captain Wung translated.

"As are we," said Newsome.

The American and Chinese shook hands. The Japanese commander and Chinese commander looked each other in the eyes. They held the gaze for at least 30 seconds and then slowly bowed.

"Sayonara."

"Zàijiàn."

"Good-bye."

With those words, the conflict between the People's Republic of China and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was over. Hundreds of soldiers from each individual country were dead. Countries like Italy, Holland, Austria, Luxemburg, and Albania had taken light causalities because they had fewer troops and were in fewer combat operations. Kosovo had taken no loses since they had joined NATO too recently to send troops to Korea, and they didn't have troops to spare anyways. The United States, Great Britain, France, Canada, Germany, and Japan had taken heavier loses because they were in nearly all of the major battles. China and South Korea suffered the worst death toll, but neither was close to what North Korea had lost.

North Korea was forced to abandon Seoul. The Korean People's Army was now taken up new positions on their side of the Korean Demilitarized Zone in a city called Kaesŏng.

* * *

**0800 Hours; November 23****rd****, 2010; Dongjak Ward, Seoul; Seoul National Capitol Area, Republic of Korea**

The 6th Infantry Division was marching on the northbound side of the Route-1 highway bridge with US 54th Infantry Division. Next to them on the southbound side was the IV Corps of the People's Liberation Army was heading south towards Incheon.

The only sounds were those of wet clomps of boots against the slush covered highway bridge, the creak of tank tracks, and rumble of vehicle motors.

Nobody spoke. They only stared. Japanese and Chinese soldiers stared at each other in curiosity. It was to first time the two sides had a chance to really look at each other.

The People's Liberation Army Ground Forces soldiers had their Type 95 bullpup assault rifles slug over their backs. Some had their helmets hanging from their packs. They wore grayish-blue digital camouflage, in a similar pattern to the American UCP, with fleece lined collars and detachable hoods. They saw Japanese Federal Army soldiers in grayish-white flecktarn camouflage with a fleece lining and detachable hoods. The two uniforms actually in description weren't too different aside from color, but the style of collars and the button fastenings wear different.

Harima was sketching rough outlines for future drawings as he rode on the top of a Type 73 APC with 5th squad. He looked up and locked eyes with a female soldier. He was startled to see a pair of sharp red eyes like Yakumo's glaring at him. She held the gaze and then nodded. Now that he looked at the Chinese, they didn't look to different from the Japanese. Did these people live with a cousin who locked them out too? Did they have strange and unusual friends too? Surely they had similar hopes and aspirations, right? Now that the war was over for them, what would they do? A lot of them were reservists who would be sent home.

Unknown to Harima, the Chinese looked at them too with similar thoughts. Would they invade North Korea? Would they go home and work to satisfy their political leaders? They are so young like us, will they go to national universities? What do they hope for?

Harima then saw a man in his 40s. He was standing on the turret of a Type 99 heavy tank with his arms folded behind his back. He was not wearing any body armor and was standing perfectly visible. What was more, he was a colonel senior, a division commander.

Colonel Senior Mao Jiang looked at the Japanese up close for the first time. 'Their leaders must be so proud at how much these children have grown and become real soldiers.'

Harima met his gaze. He removed his sunglasses to get a better look.

Jiang saw down at the large muscular Japanese enlisted soldier. Jaing could see a sketchbook in the soldier's lap. 'If you want a drawing, remember this division, we are the People's Army's 70 Infantry Division.'

'Who is that guy?' wondered Harima. 'He's an officer.'

He burned the image of this man in his mind. The proud stance that Harima had come to associate with the Chinese.

The two men passed each other. The silent march continued.

* * *

**1200 Hours; November 23****rd****, 2010; NATO Korean Theater Operation HQ, Pusan; South Gyeongsang Province, Republic of Korea**

He put up several recon photos taken by U2 spy planes on the monitor.

"These were taken in the Kaesŏng Industrial Region, a special administrative province directly north of the DMZ. The North Korean are preparing to launch another attack across the DMZ."

"They can't be serious," said Heinkel.

"They sure look it," said Ericson looking at the hundreds-of-thousands of KPAGF soldiers assembling in the Kaesŏng Industrial Region and the southern North Hwanghaw Province.

"The South Koreans want to take a preemptive strike approach since we haven't had a chance to reestablish defenses," said Newsome.

"My government hasn't authorized an invasion of North Korea," said Ericson.

"Nor have mine," said Heinkel.

"I would probably need orders from Washington," confessed Newsome.

They turned to look at Honnoji. "North Korea invaded my homeland. The Diet did empower me to launch direct attacks on the North, but I hadn't exercised that power yet and I would like an okay from the Federal Government. Why does South Korea want this land?"

"Back in 1945 when we and the Russians divided up Korea along the 38 Parallel, Kaesŏng was originally part of the RoK. The South Koreans see it as rightfully theirs."

"So, my nation and I think Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands are rightly part of Japan, but you don't see us taking advantage of the civil war to take it," he said, just to play devil's advocate. Truthfully, some in Japan had considered seizing Kunashir and Shikotan which were a few kilometers off the coast of Hokkaido.

"Well, maybe our leaders can come to an agreement with Kim Jong-Il," said Newsome without any real conviction.

* * *

**1300 Hours; November 23****rd****, 2010; Yongsan Garrison, Seoul; Seoul National Capitol Area, Republic of Korea**

"Nice place the Americans have," said Harima looking around the base that was headquarters for American forces stationed in the RoK.

Harima sat down on a bunk in one of the barracks.

"I hear there is a movie theater and bowling alley in this base. Also a shopping district," said Hanai.

"That's good. I need to get Tenma-san a birthday present," said Harima lying down on the bed.

"Oh, right. That's the 30th, right?" asked Asou.

"Remember her party last year?" asked Hanai laughing.

"Hai, you got drunk because Takano-san slipped something in your tea and then made out with that lion statue in the Matsuri," said Harima.

Hanai ceased laughing and stared at Harima with a raised eyebrow. "I don't remember that."

"I bet you don't," chuckled Asou to himself.

"Remember Sawachika-san chasing you around," said Hanai trying to get the subject off him. "What did you do to make her so mad?"

"How should I know? I could have made my life a lot easier if I'd ever known?" groaned Harima.

"Oh, and remember Imadori and what he gave Tenma-san?" asked Asou with a grin.

"The wonder bra? Hai, I remember. I wanted to kill him," said Harima recalling when he was still madly in love with Tsukamoto Tenma.

"This is Imadori we're talking about. He probably thought he was doing her a favor," said Hanai shaking his head. "Though I agree with Kenji. It was pretty mean. So, what are you going to get her this year?"

"Mmm, something simple. I don't her to get the wrong idea, you know what I mean?" asked Harima. "You think they sell 'The Three Who Got Slashed' stuff here?"

"Probably not," said Asou. "I think it's only popular around the Kanagawa and Tokyo Prefectures. Besides, the stores probably haven't reopened yet."

This was the first time they'd just talked like high school students in a long time. Harima remembered when war was declared between Japan and China. It was the same day, nearly the same minute, he found out Tenma was dating Karasuma. He felt like giving up that day and just die in battle, but he and Hanai made a promise to stay alive and find someone to be with. It felt stupid then, but Harima liked the idea of settling an old feud. He also didn't want to drag Hanai down with him in his depression. It had all disappeared on that first day when the chopper crashed and they were alone in Pusan.

"Haruki."

"Hai, Kenji?"

"Arigato," said Harima gratefully.

"For what?"

"The promise."

Hanai looked confused, but a look of realization came over him. "Iē, I should be thanking you."

"Can we discuss this later? I want to take a nap. Wake me tomorrow," said Harima catching up with sleep he lost over the past few months.

* * *

**1530 Hours; November 23****rd****, 2010; Yagami Elementary School, Yagami; Kanagawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

Mai was walking out of her school with her friends Sachi and Mio. She looked up and saw a beautiful young woman in a Yagami High School uniform.

"Onee-chan," called Mai. She started to refer to Yakumo as Onee-chan and Tenma as Nee-san, like Yakumo.

"Mai-chan," said Yakumo smiling.

"What is it?"

"Japan and China signed a ceasefire this morning. The North Koreans have retreated into North Korea," she said gently.

Mai looked up in shock. Chinese broadcasts were banned in Japan and the public had not seen the Chinese announcement. Yakumo had heard the announcement by on the radio during her lunch period while she was the Tea Club room. She was a reserved person, but she had to fight a sudden urge to yell at the top of her lungs. There had been a slight spring to her step since lunch and the smile hadn't died from her face all day.

Mai leaped into Yakumo arms and hugged her with all her might. Yakumo returned the hug.

"He'll be home soon."

* * *

**1000 Hours; November 22****nd****, 2010 (UCT -5); United States of America Senate, Washington; District of Colombia, United States of America**

**Korean Standard Time (UCT +9): 2400 Hours; November 23****rd****, 2010**

"Ladies and gentlemen of the United States Senate, I today appeal to you for authorization to deploy US land forces into the southern provinces of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in a preemptive strike against a very real North Korea threat," said US President Michelle Smith Crane, the first president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt asked for a declaration of war against Japan on December 8th, 1941 in his famous 'Day of Infamy' Speech. "The so-called People's Korean Army is assembling nearly 1 million soldiers to launch a renewed invasion of the Republic of Korea. South Korean soldiers are preparing a land assault of their own to destroy this invasion force before it is ready to attack."

"Madam President," said Senate Majority Leader, Democratic Senator Patrick Orbach of New York State, rising to his feet. "With all due respect, it is my understanding the North Korean military is vastly obsolete compared to most of their neighbors. We have approved a lot of military aid to both South Korea and Japan, are you telling us that they aren't capable of dealing with such threats?"

"Of course not, but we do have an obligation to defend the Republic of Korea," said President Crane, she hadn't expected this to go well, but she wanted to try anyways.

"You're saying that it is the United States obligation to invade another sovereign nation and forcefully seize territory by our military for another country's benefit?" asked Republican Spokesperson Adam Waterson. "That sounds uncomfortably like Imperialism."

'Like you can talk, Republican,' thought Crane bitterly. "Many US Army and Marine Corps posts near the Korean DMZ are in direct threat by this attack. All our victories to this point could be made meaningless."

"Madam President," said Independent Spokesperson Jerry Avery, "we appreciate the situation. You have done a wonderful job of keeping this war organized and, aside from the embargo against China, minimizing its affect on the US population. But we want an end. If the North Koreans launch a land invasion you have the power as Commander-in-Chief to take what steps as we, the Senate, authorized. We don't want march blindly into another country with no plan."

"I think we can agree on allowing the Air Force and Navy, minus the Marine Corps, to support the South Korean Army, but we only agreed to defend the South Koreans, not invade other nations for them. South Korea is on its own," said Senator Orbach in a final tone. The Senate was set in their position.

"Very well. Next I would like to discuss the embargo of the United States of America against the People's Republic of China. China show unbelievable acts of aggression against long standing US allies. We have provided proof of plans to attack the Republic of China. The Intelligence Community has produced documents showing plans to take the war to a nuclear stage. I feel it is very inappropriate to consider lifting the embargo. They must know that we the United States of America will no longer do business with the People's Republic of China until we are satisfied that they cannot use military power to destroy their economic competition!" thundered President Crane. Her voice had steadily risen from her first sentence to a defiant shout at the final words.

"I agree with Madam President Crane," said Senator Waterson. "We have made this far without Chinese goods. We've been saying we can make it without their cheap goods. All those substandard products they've been choking our stores with, why should we reward them for all the damages they've caused to Japan and South Korea."

"As Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee," said Democratic Senator Abigail Logan standing up after Senator Waterson sat, "I think it should be said that such a move would probably destroy US-Chinese relations for years, maybe decades."

"Our economy has just adjusted to the embargo," said Pennsylvania Republican Senator James Bitterbecks indignantly. "We are seeing real growth in our national productivity. Steel mills are building again. Aircraft factories that were moved to China have returned to the US. Even when they were moved to Mexico or somewhere south they could under well-established trade agreements. We are making real progress, it is in our interests to let the embargo stand."

A round of consent followed. It may seem a little petty that the US was going to keep an embargo because they would ultimately benefit in the long run. President Crane was internally grinning broadly. This was her real objective with the Senate for today. She knew she would never convince the Senate to commit US ground troops in an invasion of North Korea… let alone the Congress or the American people. Securing a long term plan for economic growth in the United States was what she wanted her presidency to be remembered for, not the war.

"Shall we put it to a vote?" asked Senator Orbach. His counter-parts in the Republican and Independent Parties nodded. "All for denying ground action in North Korea, but allowing air campaigns to continue."

61 hands went up.

"All against."

Only 17 hands were raised.

"61 for the denying of empowering the Commander-in-Chief to allow the ground forces to invade North Korea. 17 against. 22 abstain from voting. Madam President you may use the United States Air Force or Navy to continue their combat operations. The Marine Corps and Army must remain south of the Korean Demilitarized Zone."

"All for continuing the embargo against the People's Republic of China."

86 were for the embargos continuation, 3 opposed, and the remaining 11 abstained from voting.

President Crane left the Capital with her Secret Service escort feeling that she had finally succeeded in accomplishing in setting a base for future presidents to build on.

* * *

**1400 Hours; November 23****rd****, 2010; Kantei, Tokyo; Tokyo Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

"Prime Minister Aokami, I appreciate you seeing me on such short notice," said a short Asian man with graying hair speaking fluent Japanese.

"Iē, zenzen. I'm glad to see you in good health President Kim-soo," said Aokami Shin, Prime Minister of the Federation of Japan, shaking hands with the President of the Republic of Korea, Roh Kim-soo. Aokami was wearing a black suit with a dark purple haori, formal Japanese equivalent of a blazer or suit jacket, with chrysanthemum etched into it. Kim-soo was wearing a black business suit with a small Republic of Korea Flag pinned to his blazer. "What is it that you wanted to discuss. Surely you didn't fly from your reclaimed capitol just to eat a late lunch with me."

Kim-soo smiled politely and laughed a little. What he was about to ask was far from funny. "Have you spoken with your field commander, recently?"

"I don't usually speak with him. Usually the Minister of Defense or someone from the Central Military Headquarters sends on update to my secretary, Sakata-san, or me directly."

"So, you don't know… well I guess my commanders would tell me since it directly threatens Seoul and my administration," said President Kim-soo.

"Nani desu ka?" asked a perplexed Prime Minister Aokami.

Kim-soo sighed, "The North is going to try to launch another attack. My commanders informed me that at least half a million are assembling around Kaesŏng, do you know where that is?"

"I'm guessing it's in North Korea," said Aokami shrugging.

"It is just across the Demilitarized Zone. Kaesŏng was part of the Kaesŏng Industrial Region until a few years ago when North Korea agreed to make it part of a settlement between our nations and open it up. The idea was that our companies could build factories and facilities to employ North Koreans. It was part of a province called the Kaesŏng Directly Governed City until 2003, but when the industrial region was agreed upon the North Koreans didn't want one of their major cities to be part of the agreement so Kaesŏng was made part of the North Hwanghae Province."

"Ah, I remember reading about that agreement a few years back when I was representative in the Diet," said Aokami remembering something about an agreement between the two Koreas. "Why bring it up?"

"My officers want to storm Kaesŏng. Many of the right wing people in the National Assembly agree. Kaesŏng was part of the Republic, before the war… the first war. When our country was liberated from… from…"

"From the military dictatorship that ruled Japan," said finished Aokami. Kim-soo was trying hard not to offend Aokami, clearly they wanted something.

"Hai, and the Soviets and Americans divided our country along the 38th Parallel."

"I don't follow," said Aokami. Geography was not his forte.

"Kaesŏng was originally ours," said Kim-soo solemnly. "It would kill two birds with one stone, as the Westerners like to say. We can liberate land that should be the Republic's and strike a blow to the North that will end this war. Surely you understand what it is like to have land on your doorstep that should be yours and have no international backing."

"Hai, the Kurils, Sakhalin. They should part of the Federation. You have any idea how many Japanese were displaced and sent here?" asked Aokami sympathetically.

"At least you got them back," sighed President Kim-soo. "Thousands of citizens of the Republic under the North's rule."

The two men fell into silence.

"The Americans won't deploy their ground troops," said President Kim-soo slowly. "We had hoped to have American Marines spearheading an assault for us and have their Army support our Army, but the American Congress won't commit their land troops."

"Sounds like you wanted them to do the work for them," said Aokami.

"Perhaps they thought it was that way. The British Parliament seems to think their involvement is over and the Americans move didn't help. The Germans don't agree with our case," said Kim-soo. "The bottom line is you are the only nation who wasn't said no."

"Yet," said Prime Minister Aokami. "Why should Japan commit ground troops? What reason? Guilt because this all started with our invasion of Korea during the Sino-Japanese War (5)? You think a war that took place in the 19th Century and an occupation that ended over half a century ago, that Japan owes your nation a favor? We liberated your nation from the Communists. We spent billions of Yen and lost hundreds of my nation's youth, something we can't throw away. President Kim-soo, I need a very good reason to commit the Federal Army. Japan would be invading a foreign nation and seizing land. Even if it's for your nation, Japan has a past. So does Germany with two world wars and the Americans with Iraq."

Kim-soo looked like he was racking his mind for an explanation.

"I want to help, but I need to tell my people why. Something that I can say to the public, the military, the Diet, and possibly the Emperor."

"North Korea has attacked your country. They defiled Japanese soil. You speak of loss, think of how many more will die if they attack again. We don't have defensive lines at this time that can stop an attack this large," said Kim-soo standing up and leaning in close. "You and I can end the war. You will never have to help with the assimilation of Kaesŏng. We will do that. Your troops just have to help us fight our way through the mass of Northern soldiers. We our so close, Shin. The Chinese are evacuating from Incheon. It all comes down to this. One last battle and it will be over."

Aokami turned in his leather chair to look out his window from his fifth floor private office in the Kantei. Across the street was the National Federal Diet Building housed in building reminiscent of more Western architecture with some Chinese and Japanese influences. To the northeast he could just see the rooftops of the Imperial Palace. What an odd place Chiyado Ward of Tokyo was. To have the ancient palace centuries old, a Western style building roughly a century old, and his current office almost 9-years-old, was a good example of Japan's mixing of old and modern worlds.

"I want it to end," said Prime Minister Aokami. "I will commit Federal Army, Navy, and Air Force assets to Kaesŏng. They will be under my officers' command. I do not want a repeat of Pusan. Give of the battle plan and we will hold up our part to the last man or woman standing. I swear my honor as a servant of the people of Nihon (Japan) and His Imperial Excellency."

* * *

**2040 Hours; November 23****rd****, 2010; Yongson Garrison, Seoul; Seoul National Capitol Area, Republic of Korea**

"So what do you think our new orders are?" asked Abarai.

"Damned if I know," said Kurosaki. "Just as long as they don't send us out again, I don't care."

The 6th Infantry Division was supposed to get new marching orders. So were the 10th Infantry, 5th Armor Division, 1st Airborne Division, and 2nd Armor Division, basically every Federal Army unit deployed to Korea. The Federal Navy was going to give new orders to 1st Marine Division and the Federal Air Force was also issuing orders to the 2nd Air Wing and 3rd Air Wing.

"They're probably going to either send us to some Kami-sama forsaken frontier… or the North Koreans have signed a ceasefire and the war is over," said Ishida pushing his glasses up his noise again as he usually seemed to do when he was thinking.

There was a silence that greeted his statement.

"Ē (Yeah), I didn't think that would happen either," said Ishida dubiously.

"So much for your plans with Dr. Inoue," said Kurosaki with a grin.

"Shut up!" screamed Ishida in one of his rare moments where he lost his cool calm demeanor.

"How did she get to be a doctor before you, Ichigo?" asked Abarai.

"Probably because the Army trained her in surgery. Besides, Renji, medicine and residency was what I was looking into."

"I wonder what we should after the war," wondered Hanai. "Kenji seems to have his plans, you have yours, Kurosaki, but the rest of us don't really have plans for the future."

"Unless you count Suō-san, you mean lover-boy," said Asou with a grin to Hanai. "I think most of us are going to college or universities, ne?"

"I don't plan on it," said Harima. "With my grades and police record, what school would take me?"

"I don't know, you have multiple medals and awards, Kenji. A college might like that," said Abarai.

"Only a military academy would be impressed. An art school or a school oriented to manga-ka would probably be all over him, but he's pretty successful already," said Mori, the only one in the group old enough to have graduated from a college or university.

"Seriously, guys, I think I'm going to skip college. If I can make it home, then I have a future waiting for me," said Harima.

Hanai smiled at his friend… possibly his best friend… is that ironic or what? He was set for life with a career and a family. Hanai had a special blue-haired someone in the Marines… Japanese Navy's Marine Corps, not the USMC. Hanai didn't have a career lined up, but as Harima said he was a smart and had open doors. In fact Harima said that Hanai might just want to go to college and see if he could find something he liked.

"So, Kenij is the only one among us who isn't going to school?" asked Abarai.

"Since when did I say you could call be Kenji," said Harima threateningly in Abarai's face and poking him in the chest. Abarai was a big guy, but Harima was bigger. He looked like he was going to wet his pants until Harima grinned and patted him on the shoulder. "For the love of Amaterasu-sama, Renji, it was a joke."

After the others laughed at Abarai's expense, they took a count of who was doing what.

"I already graduated," said Mori. "My husband is in the Navy. He's doing maneuvers with the 1st Fleet. We hope to have kids."

"I have a fiancée and a soon-to-be-mother-in-law to take care of. I don't know if I have time for school," said Yamako.

"Not really sure what I want, but I did get into Yokohama National University. That sounds like a plan for now," said Ishida.

"I got into Karakura College, not much, but it's a school," said Abarai.

"Same," said Kitsumori. "Maybe I'll get my own apartment… or continue to stay with Kenji."

"Itoko wrote me and said she's not coming home immediately after the war. I don't know where I'll be staying," said Harima.

"You could stay at our dojo," said Hanai. "But I'm sure the Tsukamotos won't mind you staying with them."

"Maybe, it would be nice. What are you doing?"

"I was going to the University of Yagami. I was looking at teaching, but not sure," admitted Hanai. Harima and Asou didn't have much a problem picturing Hanai educating young minds or be some kind of instructor.

"It wasn't easy, but I got into the University of Tokyo," said Kurosaki. They all looked at the orange-haired man who looked something like a delinquent like Harima, Abarai, or Kitsumori. He got into the most prestigious and hardest to reach school in Japan?

"How?" asked Asou weakly.

"Studying hard enough to get a scholarship for the medical department. Also having a dad who knows the head of the medicine and pharmacy departments helped," said Kurosaki.

"Guess you can't be a doctor without a degree," said Tsutsui while cleaning his FN Minimi light machine gun.

"It helps," said Ikuro sarcastically.

"What are you doing?"

"I was looking at joining my mother's law firm."

"Damn, that takes some doing and a law degree."

Ikuro shrugged, "I think I can do it. What about you, Fujiwara?"

"Me? Well… I don't know yet. I didn't get a chance to hear back from any school. I don't really know yet."

"Katase, you?" asked Fujiwara looking towards Toyotomi.

"I had an internship at a ferry company that operated in the Seto Inland Sea. I kinda' liked my work there," he said vaguely.

"Sounds more fun than my old job as a conductor at a JR West station. You ever tried to stuff people on a train pack to full capacity bound to Osaka?" asked Amakasu. They shook their heads. "Well it ain't fun. I wanted to drive the trains and maybe see a bit of Japan, but they said I was too young."

"Well, you've seen a bit of Japan and half of Korea. Bet you're looking forward to the rush hour crowd after this," said Asou.

Amakasu nodded. He would like to go back to that station and enjoy some relative peace compared to this. "What about you Serge? You've never really shared with us."

"Mmmm… I was thinking that I would have to reapply to school because I didn't manage to get any responses to the letters I got to the schools who accepted me. I still don't know yet," said Asou, but he felt hopeful.

"Attention!" shouted the platoon leaders as Captain Hitsugaya Tōshirō entered the barrack the E Company had gathered in.

"Konbanwa (good evening), I have just received orders from Six," said Hitsugaya, referring to Colonel Hojo when he said 'Six'. "You are probably wondering why you have been told to pack all your gear and why you have been issued full stocks of ammo, food, water, and our other necessities."

No response.

"So you all were able to guess we might be going into battle again?"

He got a few nodded and some mutters that they had guessed. One soldier raised his hand.

"Hai, private?"

"Haven't we retaken the RoK? What's left?" asked a private in 1st platoon. A few soldiers made grunts to show they wanted to know too and all looked more fixedly at Hitsugaya.

"Who's heard of Kaesŏng?" asked Captain Hitsugaya. That stumped everyone.

Unsurely, a radioman in 3rd platoon raised her hand. "I think it's… uh, isn't that a city in North Korea?"

They looked from her to their company CO with a mixture of confusion, uncertainty, and shock.

"It is. Get some sleep. We leave at 0300 for the DMZ. We invade the North at 0740, just after sunrise. We get not Western ground support. Only air, artillery, and naval support. The Germans, Americans, British, French, Italians, Belgians, Turks, Greeks, Dutch, Danes, and the rest won't touch this. I don't know how, but the South Korean President talked Aokami-shushō into sending all five Army divisions. The Navy is going to send up some of their cruisers and a carrier to take out some home bases of the KPAF and provide us with some cruise missile fire. The Air Force is going to mobilize nearly every fighter, fighter-bomber, gunship, and bomber they can get ready for sortie between now and until we're done," said the weary looking captain.

He had hoped that he would get leave and visit Hinamori, who was transferred to the Federal Navy Hospital. In her last email, she said she was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun 6th Class, as promised by Read Admiral Byuten, for putting things in motion that saved the Sutsuru from potential destruction. She was a little worried that some of the scars on her legs wouldn't go away, but she was walking again with the aid of crutches and would walk on her own in a few months. Well, so much for that.

"If we win this, it's over and we go home. We won't have to stay. The South Koreans promised us that they'll handle the occupation with their home guards and military police. We just have to help take out a couple million KPAs."

'Oh, is that all?' wondered several soldier sarcastically. But the promise of one more battle and they would go home… it was the first time they were promised that.

Harima was slowly grasping what was being implied. Win, and they either break the North Koreans or force them to sign a ceasefire. Lose, and the KPA invade South Korea again and they have to fight for the RoK all over again. No, they couldn't go through more months of fighting as December descends upon them and the enviable harsh snows of January. They had to do this. One last fight.

* * *

This is one of the last three chapters to come ya'll. After this there will be only two chapters. I'm sorry to say folks that it is really coming to an end, but I'll get started on the sequel. For more information please come my page for a preview.

I don't know how long the last chapter will be, but I will make it as long as necessary to make sure the whole damn thing fits in one chapter. Chapter 60 will probably be very long because it will have aftermath of the war. Hope ya'll stick with me. Of course, it would be pretty stupid to bail on me now that you're this far.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs falls under the State Councilors. Unlike in the Soviet Union, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not have official members on the Chinese Politburo, but may have representatives show up upon request. They would be under the control of the Minister of State Councilors, a member of the Politburo Standing Commission.

2. I bought the Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid limited addition set and it came with a bunch of little booklets. One of the booklets had the callsigns of the Tuatha da Danaan and according to it Captain Teletha Testarossa's callsign is Ansuz which fittingly means 'Intellect'.

3. SOSUS, or Sound Surveillance System, was system first placed to from Greenland to Iceland to Scotland. In theory it would allow NATO to detect all Soviet submarines coming from the North Sea and into the North Atlantic. It was highly successful, but the Soviets did find a few ocean trenches that weren't covered called highways by NATO. NATO placed attack submarines at the entrances/exits called 'Tollbooths' to cover the gaps. The locations of SOSUS are heavily guarded secrets, but it is believed that NATO has SOSUSs in the Baltic Sea, Bering Sea, near the Panama Canal, US coastlines, Strait of Gibraltar, and Istanbul Bosporus.

4. Merida Island is a fictional Island supposedly near Guam. In the anime/manga Full Metal Panic it is the base of operations for the Tuatha de Danaan where it is repaired, re-supplied, and serviced.

5. The First Sino-Japanese War was a war between the Qing Dynasty (China) and the Empire of Japan from 1894-1895. Japan had invaded the Korean Peninsula and Manchuria as a buffer-zone between them and invading Western powers based out of colonies in Eastern Asia. China was forced to make Korea and Taiwan independent. Japan merely influenced the Korean government until 1910 when they took total control of Korea.


	59. Chapter 59: Beyond No Man's Land

I really want to apologize for the long delay, but I've got a lot going on.

Okay, this is the final battle. I just want to say that mostly to set a goal for myself and to remind myself that I have to end this story with the next chapter.

At this point I would like some reflections from my loyal readers from around the world. I know I have one from Argentina, at least one from the United States, and two or three from Canada. I still don't know why many of my readers are Canadian, but I ain't complaining. I would also like to say I'm not one of those Americans who hate Canadians.

Seriously though, I would like some reflections of this story for this and the final chapter.

I don't own any brandname, trademarked, or copywrite items such as products owned by Heckler & Koch (H&K), Colt, Smith & Wesson (S&W), Remington, Schwiezerische Industries Gesellschaft (SIG) Sauer, Steyr Mannlicher, Fabrique Nationale de Herstal (FN Herstal), Izhevsk Mechanical Work, China North Industries Corporation (NOCRINCO), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Howa Machinery Company Ltd, McDonnell-Douglas, Lockheed-Martine, Northrop-Grumman, Boeing, Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug Gmbh, Eurocopter Group, Sony, Microsoft, Apple Inc., General Motors, Ford, Hyundai, Hyundai Heavy Industries, and many more companies and corporations all over the world.

I've been taking a look at what chapters have been getting a lot of hits. I've noticed that Chapter 36: Waltz of the Birds of Prey is one of my most popular chapters because the chapters immediately before and after have 70+ hits and Chapter 36 has over 160. I've also noticed that Chapter 32: Home was fairly popular. Following the logic from these two chapters it was no surprise Chapter 52: Where do we go from Here? is also a chapter that gets a lot of hits.

* * *

**Chapter 59: Beyond No Man's Land**

"All of North Korea is a jail."

Kim Y. Sam

**0720 Hours; November 24****th****, 2010; Route-1, Army of the Republic of Korea Boarder Gate #1; Korean Demilitarized Zone, Republic of Korea**

"This is not what I imagined it would look like," said Hanai to Harima. "I pictured… you know, no man's land."

"Ē. It's actually kinda' nice looking," said Harima.

The Korean Demilitarized Zone (Korean DMZ) was the world's most heavily fortified and defended bordered. On the southern edge was Armed Forces of the Republic of Korea's guard posts. On the northern edge were the Korean People's Army guard posts. Both sides were only allowed, by previously established treaties, to have limited numbers of troops within the designated DMZ. Just outside the DMZ were hundreds-of-thousands of North and South Korean soldiers, tanks, helicopters, planes, artillery, and armor.

What Harima and Hanai, and several Japanese soldiers, didn't know was that people were too scared to enter the DMZ and get caught between the two largest armies in the world. For this reason the DMZ was surprisingly well preserved due to the obvious lack of construction or housing projects.

The Korean DMZ was 248km (155mi) long stretching form the Yellow Sea to the Sea of Japan and 4km (2.5mi) wide. In fact out of its 992 square kilometers (387.5 square miles), there were only three places where people lived. There was one propaganda village that belonged to the North Koreans, Gijeong, and the other, Daeseong, which belonged to the South Koreans. Only a few residents, who were really caretakers/groundskeepers, actually lived in Gijeong and Daeseong. Their jobs were to turn the lights on, to walk around, look busy and productive, and fool the other side into thinking that their village was big and successful. The only other place with people living in it was the Joint Security Area where North Korean, South Korean, and American soldiers operated a meeting area for the two Koreas with the Americans as mediators

Actually, the Joint Security Area (Kongdong Kyŏngbi Kuyŏk) as it was called by the Americans, or Panmunjeon (Truce Village), as it was called by the Koreans, was just in front of them.

Harima was putting on fresh socks. Socks were the one item that everyone made sure they changed everyday and tried to keep fresh ones on to stave off athletes-foot, trench-foot, or other foot fungi that developed when one wore sweaty socks for several days in a row. Still, living with trench-foot was better than not wearing socks which would allow all kinds of painful blisters that turned walking, not to mention running, into an avoidably difficult task.

With all the trees it was quite easy for the Japanese and South Koreans to hide their infantry and armor. 6 Japanese divisions, five from the Army and one Marine Navy division, and 7 Army of the Republic of Korea divisions were ready to storm across the DMZ. Over 20 artillery battalions were on call and more than three dozen helicopter squadrons of varying types were ready to mobilize.

The North Koreans weren't watching from their guard posts as carefully as they should. A few were destroyed by American F-117s during the night, but not enough to make them suspicious. The KPAGF fired some 152mm shells from their D-50 (M1955) at odd intervals, but they were miles away. The shelling was too infrequent, too scatters, and too small in volume to be much of a concern to the Japanese or South Koreans.

Harima looked around at these sights and smells. Even though the DMZ was surprisingly beautiful, and he could only imagine what it looked like in the spring or summer, it was a very eerie place. It was… too quiet. A bad and highly overused cliché, but a lack of animal noises was a bad sign. Harima knew animals well and he knew they wouldn't want to stick around a place like this.

"Rice is done," said Yamako turning off the small portable burner. Harima ate cheap instant rice which merely needed water. On the side were lentil beans for protein.h

'No meat,' thought Harima. 'A good sign. They aren't expecting a tough fight if they are feeding us this.'

"Hey, guys. They got us coffee and doughnuts," said a woman in 4th squad. "It looks like gourmet stuff too."

'And now we're screwed,' thought Harima. 'That's just mean. Blindsiding us like that. Oh well. Might as well as enjoy the free food.'

It was delicious. It wasn't the cheap instant coffee the Army issued them with their MREs. This was probably not a good sign, but Harima was reasonably sure it would be over soon and if he was still alive… no, Harima had come way too far to die now.

5th squad trekked back to the ACPs. It was almost time. The command and engineer teams climbed inside of the Type 73 APC, but the assault and fire teams climbed on top of it. It had warmed up yesterday and snow had melted. Although the ground was still covered in white, it was now slush and mud that soldiers would sink in if they weren't paying attention. It had gotten colder during the night and a lot of the ground had re-frozen, but that wasn't any better. These were poor conditions for infantry to maneuver around in.

Engines sprang to life. Warplanes were inbound. Conditions being good or bad, there was no turning back anyways.

The first vehicles to proceed were mine-clearer closely followed by heavy armor which was followed by medium armor, IFVs, and APCs with infantry.

A North Korean border guard was sitting at his post with a squad of other guards. He looked south and saw nothing as usual. He'd been here for years and nothing ever happened. He took a sip of tea from a cup sitting on top of a sandbag wall that formed a semi-circle around the small guard post facing south, naturally. He looked up and saw a column of armor in the distance. He did a double-take before he realized what he saw. It was the last thing he saw because eight well-placed 105mm shells destroyed the post.

"You think they hit anything?" asked Harima watching the 105s exploding on the hills and mountains on the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) side of the DMZ.

"I think so, ARoK have been watching the North Koreans for years," said Asou. "They told the arty corps the KPA positions. It's just a matter of zeroing in on the coordinates we're given."

Harima cringed as an entire USAF air wing roar low overhead. F-4G Phantoms armed with AGM-154 anti-radar installation missiles, Wild Weasels, looking for KPAGF or KPAF radar and SAMs. F-15E Strike Eagles armed with CBU-87 Cluster Bombs, Napalm, BGU-27 Paveway-III Bunker Busters, and Mk. 84 unguided-bombs flew off to destroy poor unsuspecting bases, bunkers, and facilities. A-10 Thunderbolt-IIs armed with AGM-56 Mavericks trailed behind, being the slowest of the American air wing, armed for tanker busting runs. They were trying to keep under radar detection and hundreds of planes, some running on afterburners, were painful to the ears.

Somewhere nearby, F-15C Eagles and F-15G Super Eagles were flying in circles to jump KPAF fighters.

Above the clouds, and out of sight of Japanese, B-52 Stratofortresses were on course to hit Kaesŏng.

* * *

**0751 Hours; November 24****th****, 2010; Republic of Korea Armed Forces Headquarters, Seoul; Seoul National Capitol Area, Republic of Korea**

"The Federal Government will be making a public announcement at 8:00," said Lt. General Honnoji to General Han Goguryeo, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the RoK. He was speaking in English, the one language he and Goguryeo had in common.

"Yes, my government will also make an announcement around that same time," said General Goguryeo. He was in his late 50s, a common age for generals, with gray hair that was turning white. In the regular military, most junior officers, lieutenants and sometimes captains, were usually in there 20s. Battalion and regimental officers, majors and colonels, were normally in there 30s. Lower ranking generals, brigadier general and major general, were in there 40s. This was the main difference between the South Koreans and Japanese. In their rush to raise a large enough military for national defense, they were forced to bring in officers younger than normal and because of their lack of youth senior officers were often over normal ages.

Honnoji was actually barely 37, which was considered too young to be a corps commander. He was being treated like an equal by a man nearly 20 years his senior and a superior in rank.

"The 6th Infantry should have no problem taking the Joint Security Area, not with the 2nd Armor backing them and half of the 2nd Air Wing. 10th Infantry and 5th Armor will push around the 6th and 2nd once they start to seize the compound," said Lt. General Honnoji.

"The 20th Mechanized Infantry and 1st and 2nd Armor are clearing their own path across the Demilitarized Zone. The 1st Marine Brigade and 17th Airborne Division is landing on the west end of the province," said Goguryeo pointing to the western part of the Kaesŏng Industrial Region. While the central and eastern parts bordered the RoK, a small part of west didn't border the RoK and required sea or airborne landings. The Japanese and South Korean marines, along with some Army elements, were forced to carve their own path across the DMZ because ships weren't available. It took too long and the sea-lanes were too busy with Chinese ships ferrying their troops home. Japanese and South Korean paratroopers were trying to clear out forward defenses.

So far the North Koreans were oblivious to what was happening and Honnoji doubted they would be able to react quickly. The North Koreans were backward and their technology was Stone Age compared to the Japanese. But intelligence estimates put the KPA strength in Kaesŏng at 1.7 million soldiers. At least 500,000 were elite home guard troops armed with more modern equipment. They were believed to be armed with standard AK-47s and RPDs like the regulars, but had much better training. Also, the KPA would be on home soil and would fight on a whole new level of ferocity.

"Where is our American naval support?" asked Honnoji.

"Delayed," sighed Goguryeo.

"We'll have to make do than. My troops have sufficient air support. Yours?"

"Yes. The F-16 we use can be used for both air and ground attacks. We also have the Slam Eagles ready."

The RoKAF (Republic of Korea Air Force) used a variation of the F-15E Strike Eagle called the F-15K Slam Eagle (1). Like the Japanese, the South Koreans had a lot of old American planes like the Phantom, but the RoKAF used F-16 Fighting Falcons and F-5 Tiger II and did not use the F-15C Eagle.

"It's 0800, my soldiers should be approaching the compound. I say it should take them 20 or 30 minutes… maybe less. It's a company against at least a battalion," said Honnoji. He wasn't going to throw two divisions against one fucking company. That was round 150 vs. 430. He highly doubted a regiment, around 1,300 strong, was necessary. He had over 600,000 soldiers marching into the North against a force almost three times their size. Would the high technology weapons and superior training give them the advantage against an enemy in their own homeland?

* * *

**0801 Hours; November 24****th****, 2010; Yagami High School, Yagami; Kanagawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

"I don't understand," said Yakumo as they watched the morning news. Tōgō Haruna, younger sister of Tōgō Masakazu (2), had a laptop and used the wireless internet made available by the Computer Club. They watched the morning new broadcast Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai (Japanese Public Service Broadcast), or NHK. NHK was a new agency similar to the BCC World Service and is one of the more non-bias new networks. NHK in fact prides itself in its impartiality.

"Nor do I," said Sarah.

"I thought the war was over," said a classmate looking over their shoulders.

"Although it may seem difficult for many, if not most, the decision to deploy our forces to Kaesŏng Industrial Region and to the city of Kaesŏng," said Prime Minster Aokami before a news conference.

"Shushō, why has the Federal Government decided to invade North Korea?" called out a member of the American news agency CNN (Cable New Network) in fluent Japanese.

"I was approached by South Korean President Roh Kim-soo. After a long discussion we came to an agreement that our forces did not have the time to mount the proper defenses to defend against what was an estimated 1.5 million North Korean soldiers."

He did not mention that South Korea considered Kaesŏng their rightful land. The Federation of Japan may not like the idea of the Federal Armed Forces being used to seize land for the South Koreans.

"Has that number changed?" as a report from Yomiuri-Shimbun, the number 1 ranked circulated newspaper in Japan.

Of Japan's top 5 most circulated newspapers, Yomiuri-Shimbun was the conservative and affiliated with Nippon TV and some international new agencies. Asahi-Shimbun was second most circulated and leftist/liberal and affiliated with TV Asahi. Asahi also known for skilled writers and university admission examinations. Mainichi-Shimbun was third and liberial and affiliated with Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS). Nikkei-Shimbun was forth and a Japanese equivalent of the Wall Street Journal, it was affiliated with TV Tokyo. Fifth was Sankei-Shimbun the right-wing and extremely conservative newspaper. Sankei had a long history, years before the war, of being pro-American and anti-Chinese. Sankei was the newspaper that frequently offended the South Koreans.

"Hai, the numbers have changed. I was informed the estimated numbers are now at 1.7 million."

"How do we know this isn't for their defense?" asked a woman from Mainichi-Shumbun.

"A fair question," admitted Aokami. "Reconnaissance photos, which are available to the press, show the Korean People's Army is in open positions. They have bridge-laying and engineering vehicles on call and positioned for rapid deployment. These aren't characteristics of a defense."

"Then what would be?"

"Trenches and bunkers being made. Artillery being pointed at roads where we would come. Munitions and other supplies being moved to underground facilities where they would be save from air or artillery attacks. Actions along these lines would be consistent, but they are positions as they are preparing to move all the materials they need for war."

"Shushō," said a man from the American Forces Network, a radio network that broadcasted for the American soldiers and their families stationed in Japan, "Western troops are not participating in this operation. It is strictly a Japanese-South Korean operation. How does this make you feel?"

'How DO I feel?' wondered Aokami. "I understand why the Americans and Germans fear the political fallout. Personally, I don't feel the British, Belgians, or others have made a descent case for themselves. But I digress and have to accept we, the free and democratic nations of Eastern Asia, must face this crisis alone."

Aokami ignored questions from Sankei-Shimbun or the TV network it was associated with, Fuji News Network. He was afraid they would say something that would offend the Chinese or South Koreans.

"What becomes of Kaesŏng?" asked a report from Asahi-Shimbun, a little suspicious.

"That is up the South Koreans. They will take full responsibility of the province. We are launching a preeminent strike against a major threat."

"Aokami-Shushō, I'm afraid I don't understand why we are attacking North Korea? We don't have a great standing relationship with the South. Why are our troops, our sons and daughters, going into across the DMZ?" asked a confused sounding man from Yomiuri-Shimbun.

"If we defeat the KPA there, they would have lost more than half their armed forces in the war. We have an opportunity to annihilate their offensive strength while they aren't prepared to defend themselves. We can end the war."

Yakumo eyes widen at 'end the war'. Three simple words that silenced the entire classroom. Prime Minister Aokami didn't say what units were being sent over the… DMZ? Yakumo didn't know what it was. She knew where it was, but not why it was there. She had no idea where Kaesŏng was. She'd never heard of it. She knew that if she never heard of it, neither had Harima.

Quietly, Yakumo found an atlas and opened it up to Korea. Sure enough, she found the Demilitarized Zone. She scanned the handful of cities on is north side. Kaesŏng was a scant 20km up a single highway from the DMZ.

In her heart, Yakumo knew Harima was there. She stared out the window as the bell rang for first period.

* * *

**0813 Hours; November 24****th****, 2010; north bank of the Han-gang, 38km south of Kaesŏng City; Kaesŏng Industrial Region, Democratic People's Republic of Korea**

Suō Mokoto, a private first class, looked around the north side of the Han-gang, or Han-gawa as the Japanese would say (3). She held her Type 89 assault rifle at her hip.

PFC. Ichijo Karen held her rifle at the shoulder. She was expecting to be attacked soon. Surely the KPA had noticed two airborne divisions parachuting into the area.

They had been no time to assemble any warships. Accept for two RoKN (Republic of Korea Navy) destroyers that were to arrive in some vague point in the future, they weren't expecting any naval support. The South Koreans had a few LCUs they managed to get to the area near where the Han opened up into the Yellow Sea. A few tanks had been ferried across, but marines didn't normally have many tanks. Paratroopers didn't have any, they couldn't drop anything heavier than an APC or IFV from a plane.

'The KPAGF must have hundreds of tanks,' Ichijo thought.

"Keep your heads on a swivel, marines," called Sergeant Yamashite Kyōsen. The Japanese Marines, unlike the rest of the Federal Navy, had their own set of enlisted ranks. They used the same ranks as the USMC, but didn't see the same roll like protecting their head of state or embassies.

"I think there's a road ahead," said Cpl. Sanmaru Izumi, Ichijo's and Suō's team leader.

The Marines had different ranks. The Army had two private ranks, OR-1 and OR-2, and OR-3 was private first class. In the Marines, OR-1 was private, OR-2 was private first class, and OR-3 was lance corporal. OR-7, which was sergeant 1st class in the Army, was gunnery sergeant in the Marines.

"I see buildings too," said Sanmaru. They were tall gray apartment buildings made of concrete.

"You hear that?" asked Ichijo. "Sounds like someone on a megaphone."

7th squad of 3rd platoon; Barracuda Company, emerged onto a four lane road. To their right were a couple of people sitting in a bus-shelter who were just becoming aware of Japanese.

"Barracuda 7-1, to Barracuda 7-0, we a road and weren't a 100m from town. We have a couple of civilians. Should we take them into custody?"

"Why?" asked 2nd Lt. Aoshi Yamato.

"What if they called-"

"Call?" interrupted Lt. Aoshi. "This is North Korea. They don't have cellphones. You worry about local police, they may be able to contact the armed forces."

They walked past the frightened looking Koreans and headed into town. Like in Soviet Union, North Koreans people live in government owned apartment buildings, accept for those who lived in rural areas. What struck Ichijo was almost funny was the buildings looked like something she'd seen in Yagami, however these had even smaller rooms and some didn't even have bathrooms.

A sudden distant burst of automatic weapons fire caused all 16 marines to hit the dirt.

"Where is it coming from?" asked a marine.

"I don't know. But it's not directed at us."

The marines moved down the road. They passed a lamp post with a loudspeaker on it. Continuous words were coming out of it, but it was all in Korean.

"Our forces continue the campaign against the imperialist-capitalist dogs in the Great Fatherland War of Liberation!" shouted the loudspeaker.

The town was made up of four 12-story apartment buildings. Up ahead was a police barracks. 30 North Korean police officers engaging… or trying to engage… a platoon of Japanese paratroopers. The police officers were armed with old TT-33 handguns, some didn't have any guns.

Surrounded, the North Koreans were quickly killed as a marine squad plowed into their exposed rear.

When the shooting ceased, the paratroopers moved forward into the town.

Lt. Otsuka Mai led 3rd platoon of Indigo Company into the town. Four buildings, 12-stories, each floor with 20 rooms. The buildings looked like they could they could take a serious beating from pretty have firepower. She wanted to search the buildings for weapons, not knowing it was a very serious offense to own a gun when one wasn't in the military. Even police had weapons restrictions imposed on them. Carrying a handgun was considered a privilege for the basic officer. She also knew by experience the South Koreans were a little hostile to the Japanese and she could only imagine what the North Koreans could be like.

"Sgt. Yamashite, 2nd Marine Infantry Battalion, Lieutenant," said Yamashite.

"2nd Lt. Otsuka, 4th Parachute Infantry Battalion. Where is the rest of your unit?"

"Behind us. We're on point."

"Is anyone else here?"

Yamashite looked up and around. No apparent sign of life. Was this a good sign?

* * *

**0805 Hours; November 24****th****, 2010; Panmunjeon, southern entrance; Korean Demilitarized Zone, Duel Sovereignty**

Echo Company was in the middle of the compound. To the south was the Freedom House which was owned by the United Nations and primarily run by the South Koreans and Americans. To the north was the Freedom Hall which was owned by the North Koreans. In between was a couple of blue barracks which were conference rooms for meetings between North and South Koreans.

KPAGF infantry were shooting from the ground and second story windows of Freedom Hall. Snipers and machine gunners were firing roof.

E Company was trapped in the conference rooms not realizing Freedom House wasn't secured.

Harima listened to bullets raking the prefabricated building. In lulls while the KPAGF reloaded Harima would try to pick off the soldiers too slow to duck down.

"Shit," he cursed as a sniper nearly picked him off from behind. He sat down to catch his breath when they heard the unmistakable screech of an RPG. The rocket hit the roof and exploded. Ceiling tiles rained down on 5th squad's heads and florescent light bulbs exploded.

"We can't advance, we can't retreat," grumbled Asou. There was a roar and the ground shook from a fighter dropping a cluster bomb.

Due to a SAM battery, helicopters couldn't get near Panmunjeon.

"Echo Leader, this is Third Eye 2, a UAV has ID'd a group of mortars setting up 300m northeast of your position. Air support is inbound, but you guys need to pullout of there," said a man from an Air Force base in Osan.

"Retreat? Do you know what surrounded means?!" shouted an irate Captain Hitsugaya. He was wondering who was the idiot that said Freedom House wasn't occupied. They couldn't move and they couldn't safely charge them so the KPAGF were bringing in fire support. These buildings would never survive a mortar barrage.

"All squads, this is Echo Leader. We're gonna' popped smokes on both sides and make a storm the south building."

"Nani?!" said a shocked Lt. Matsumoto.

"It's that or we wait for the mortars!"

"Dammit," she cursed. "1st platoon, let's go!"

Smoke grenades were tossed out of the conference buildings. Once the smoke billowed out enough, E Company charged the south building. Harima couldn't see more than a few meters ahead of him, but he felt the asphalt of the road between the conference building and Freedom House. He reached a brief set of steps and ran across the smooth stone floor. Harima almost crashed into Kurosaki as they charged through the glass doors. (4)

Harima saw a man come out of a hall way off the entrance hall and blasted him. He crumpled and fell backwards dropping his AK-47 with a clatter. 3rd platoon stormed up a stairwell while 1st platoon checked the ground floor. Lt. Urashima had his platoon barricade the north entrance.

Asou heard chaos upstairs and he couldn't tell who was more confused, Echo Company or the KPA.

The smoke was clearing and they could see Freedom Hall… for a brief moment. Freedom Hall exploded from several Mk. 48 bombs being dropped by a flight of RoKAF F-16s.

"Never seen the South Koreans so willing to bomb their turf," said Harima.

"They're not going to need this place, Kenji, if they're going to take the lands north," said Hanai.

"Good point," said Harima as he fired at retreating KPAGF infantry.

"He is the smart one," said Kitsumori firing long automatic bursts.

A couple of Type 90 heavy tanks rolled up road on their right.

"Where the hell have they been?" asked Jupei.

"Don't know, but let's move," said Asou following the rest of 2nd platoon.

"This is Echo Leader, Panmunjeon is secured."

* * *

**0925 Hours; November 24****th****, 2010; Ch'okan, 36km south of Kaesŏng City; Kaesŏng Industrial Region, Democratic People's Republic of Korea**

"3rd platoon, spread out," said Lt. Otsuka.

PFC Kuchiki Rukia scanned the buildings. This place was much larger. These buildings were 24-stories and there were 12 of them. There was a trolley line that ran through the main street highway and followed the road to other towns.

Cadet Yong Namjeon was a 22-year-old police officer. He was supposed to maintain law and order in the name of his Dear Leader Kim Jong-Il and defense his lands. However, as a new officer he hadn't earned the privileged to carry a firearm and when the Japanese arrived 20 minutes ago he only had a radio which was taken from him and smashed by a girl with spiky hair.

Namjeon was struggling to keep a mob of people calm.

"Ye, ye (yes, yes). I understand, but what do you want me to do Geodo?" he said to a man roughly his age.

"Get rid of them. Those Japs are going to kill us all," yelled Geodo.

"Get rid of them with what? Didn't you see our proud Army running away half an hour ago? Geodo, I think we are safe. They don't seem very interested in us," reasoned Namjeon to himself and the crowd.

"Yong, what about the us?" pleaded Jong Gwanghu, a 20-year-old woman who looked at the Japanese with some fear.

"I'm sure you're safe, Jong. Most of the Japanese soldiers here appear to be female."

"Where are our soldiers!" demanded Seong-num, a 21-year-old man.

"I don't know, but they ran away as far as I can tell. Look, I talk to them and see," said Namjeon with his hands up in a way to try and reason with the mob. He noticed it was only the younger people who were angry or scared. The older ones seemed a little relieved the Army was gone. Maybe because they were born when this was part of the South.

He saw a short petite girl tinkering with a fuse box. She had black hair and purple eyes.

"Damn speakers," cursed Kuchiki. The propaganda being yelled out from the speakers were getting on her nerves and she was seeing if she could turn it off.

"Shillye hamnida (excuse me)," said Namjeon to Kuchiki. "Annyeong hasimnikka (Hello; formal), the people and I are a little concerned as to what is going to become of us. Now, I may be young, but I would like assurances that the people come to no harm."

"Nani desu ka?" asked Kuchiki turning to face him and adjusting the M4A1 carbine at her hip. Manjeon took a step back, frightened by the girl and her weapon. She could kill him easily.

"Wakarimasen (I don't understand)," Kuchiki said.

Namjeon didn't understand either.

"Aha," she said happily. Namjeon looked curiously at her noise of triumph. Kuchiki disconnected a wire and the speakers in the town went end. Her task completed, Kuchiki walked away.

'What did she do?' wondered a dumbstruck Namjeon. 'Can she do that?' "What did you do?"

Kuchiki looked at the young man who asked her the question in a very weak voice. He was looking between the now silent speaker and her as though he couldn't believe it.

"You don't need that," said Kuchiki over her shoulder.

Namjeon stared. He looked up at the flag pole and saw the flag was gone. It was on the ground as if someone cast it aside as trash.

"Yong?" prompted Gwanghu. "Why did she do that? She can't disable the media speakers."

"She just did."

"But what will the State do to us?" she asked terrified.

Then it hit Namjeon. "Jong, I don't think it matters what State thinks anymore."

"What? Why? Are soldiers are in the South. Right? This is happening too fast," she said sounding increasingly scared.

"Jong, calm down. Don't you get it? We've seen the People's Army massing in the bases west of us. The Capitalists have turn the tables on us," said Namjeon grabbing her by the shoulders and looking her in the eyes excitedly. He wasn't sure if he was scared or happy, but he was being overwhelmed by feelings and he didn't know what to do. But there wasn't anyone to tell him what to do… he was… free?

Vehicles were rolling up the highway with tanks, but they weren't Japanese. The some of the soldiers riding on top of the APCs and tanks were holding white flags with the red and blue ying-yang symbols. Soldiers dismounted. Most of the armor drove on, but a company of soldiers stayed behind.

The flag of the Republic of Korea was being raised up the flag pole by RoKA soldiers.

"Yong, who are they?" asked Jong.

"Southern troops."

"What…?"

"People of this town!" called out a South Korean captain using a megaphone. "We bring you greetings from President Roh Kim-soo of the Republic of Korea. We, the soldiers of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces and the Armed Forces of the Federation of Japan have now liberated your town. No longer will you live under Kim Jong-Il and his chief's oppression. You are free!"

The older generations who remembered being part of the South, cheered. Younger generations looked less enthusiastic.

"What will happen to us?" asked Gwanghu.

"I don't know… but we get to decide," said Namjeon. "Jong, I have a cousin who managed to runaway to the South. He said before he left that if I could find him, he would help… do you want to come with me?"

* * *

**0957 Hours; November 24****th****, 2010; Route-1, 14km south of Kaesŏng City; Kaesŏng Industrial Region, Democratic People's Republic of Korea**

"What the hell is that?" asked Asou seeing a new tank blocking their path.

"It's called the P'okpoong-Ho, it's based off the T-72!" called Harima recalling it from the recognition guidebook.

'Whatever it is, it doesn't stand up to our tanks,' thought Asou as a Type 90 destroyed the P'okpoong. They were in a valley between two mountains. If they could get over the next mountain they would be in Kaesŏng.

Asou led his squad up a hill on the right side of the road and they flopped down behind a pile of rocks. Harima saw the silhouettes of KPAGF soldiers and fired steel-jacketed rounds at them.

A mortar exploded behind them. It was quickly followed by a second and third.

"They're trying to zero in on us! Get off the hill!" shouted Asou.

5th squad scattered. Harima felt something grabbed him as he ran and he tripped. A piece of shrapnel caught his jacket, but didn't cut him. He felt someone grab his arm.

"Let's go!" shouted Hanai.

"I'm comin', Haruki," said Harima. "Fuck, BTR!"

Harima and Hanai ducked behind a bolder as a BTR-60 swept the hills with 12.7x108mm heavy machine gun fire. As soon as it was shooting at someone else, Harima fired an AT-rocket at it. He destroyed it, but a group of BMP-1 APCs and a company of infantry rolled over a hill ahead of them.

"How many of them do you think there are?" asked Abarai.

Ishida did a quick scan with his high-powered scope. "Looks like a regiment."

"Is that all?" asked Asou sarcastically. "Give me the radio."

Toyotomi handed him the transmitter.

"This is Echo 5-1, request napalm strike on Hill 1291, 1290, and 1292, over."

"… this is Grim 1-1, roger that. ETA 2 minutes, out."

T-62s barreled over the hills as another battalion of KPAGF soldiers and armor joined the fight. Ishida was trying to pick off the officers with his M-21 semi-automatic sniper rifle. 5th squad was anchoring the center with 4th and 6th squads. Ishida noticed that many of the soldiers charging forwards were the same civilian rabble they saw in Pusan armed with World War II era weapons. The others were taking up positions nearer their tanks.

There was a loud screeching noise and they looked up to see a new sight. Rockets leaving firing contrails behind. 122mm rockets rained down on the 26th Heliborne Battalion trying to advance up the road and turn it into a parking lot. Wrecked from destroyed vehicles would slow them down.

Lt. Colonel Daijin was watching her battalion holding their positions from hers. She was on a ledge down the highway and gave her a nice vantage point. They were another two battalions of KPAGF soldiers and tanks coming. Now it was her 27th facing a brigade… well it would be a division in KPAGF or PLAGF or USSR, but a brigade to NATO.

"Two armor battalions and… six or seven infantry battalions," said Asou into the radio trying to keep the Air Force updated. "Nani? …oh, hai, I see three or four ZSU-57-2s. Iē, I don't see any SAMs."

Two flights of F-1s streaked over the KPAGF positions and dropped several bombs that exploded into huge walls of intense orange and yellow fire. Several companies disappeared in the flames and Harima suspected some of the tank crews were incinerated inside their vehicles. One poor pilot was torn up by the AA-vehicles, but the others made it out. Harima saw the plane crash without its pilot ejecting.

"Nice job Grim 1-1. But we still have tanks coming, over."

"Gomen, Echo. We'll send for tank busters, but we only got napalm. Grim, out."

"Isshin, can't you get your tanks moving?" asked Lt. Colonel Daijin to Major Takato, commander of the 28th Armor Battalion.

"My tankers are still trying to Kotono's soldiers from that junkyard," said Major Takato indicating the blocked road. The rocket barrage had destroyed several M939 troop trucks ands Stryker APCs. The remains were blocking the 28th Battalion's tanks from advancing to the aid of the 27th Infantry.

Colonel Hojo arrived and jumped out of a jeep. "82nd is trying to flank the enemy and cut them off on the other side. They ran into another division though."

"Damn," said Takato.

"Damn, is right. The enemy doesn't seem to realize entirely what's happening and they aren't organized. The thing is, there are so many of them that we keep running into them. Paras and marines have are left flank."

"So the North Koreans are in the center and right sides of the advance," said Daijin. "So if the South Koreans push hard enough do think they retreat?"

"Doesn't look like the KPA are keeping in very close contact. Their west and center are acting independently of each other."

A squadron of F-1s pounced on the KPA tanks and dropped AGM-65 Mavericks. The Mavericks flew horizontally Mach .93 until they were almost over the heads of their targets. The missiles arced into terminal dive and slammed into the armor of the tanks well over the speed of sound.

"Shit, there's still a company out there," cursed Major Daijin watching her beloved battalion giving ground to the surviving dozen T-55s and BMP-1s.

"Can we have your tanks fire from here?" asked Colonel Hojo to Takato.

"A lot of loose rock above. If they shoot back it might come down and that could stall us for days."

"We don't have that kind of time. The operation was designed to do it in one day," said Hojo. It had been surprisingly successful thus far. Paratroopers and marine had met virtually no resistance and this was the first real counter-attack they'd seen all day.

D, E, and F Companies had fallen back behind the hills to a forest stopped at the edge of the valley. Their hope was to lure the enemy tanks in as close as possible and use the AT weapons on them.

Harima saw a T-55 roll over the crest. He didn't move for fear of alerting it. The Army had taught him patients he knew it had kept him alive this long, so he waited.

"You think he'll do it?" Harima asked.

"He will, but let's hope he doesn't realize it's a trap," said Hanai.

The T-55 approached a small rise in the ground. The bottom was exposed. From a distance of 50m, Harima fired an 84mm rocket. He and Hanai relocated to a new position knowing the rocket contrail would draw fire.

"You got him," said Hanai looking at the burning mass over his shoulder for a second.

The other soldiers with AT weapons opened up on the approaching tanks. The BMPs stood no chance against the high-velocity anti-tank rocket, but some of the more heavily armored medium tanks survived.

Ikuro looked behind her. Their backs were to the wall… well a mountain, but that was pretty damn close.

"We're charging it," said declared.

"Nani?" asked Kurosaki who wasn't really paying attention.

"See that T-55, we're going to board it," said Ikuro.

"Nani?!"

"Just cover me," she said loading a fresh clip into her Colt M4A1 carbine and running towards a T-55 which was facing to the side leaving its right side facing them. Abarai raised his Towa Type 89 and shot the commander in the head before he could wield the anti-air machine gun at them. Kurosaki was firing sporadic bursts to the left and Fujiwara right to keep their flanks covered.

It struck Ikuro how large a tank really was. She'd seen NATO tanks, but not communist tanks up close. She struggled to scale up the side, but there weren't any good footholds and her pack weighed her down. Abarai came up behind her and cupped his hands which she stepped on and he managed to lift her up high enough so she could swing a leg onto the chasse. Next he helped Fujiwara up because she was smaller and therefore lighter than Kurosaki.

Ikuro climbed onto the rounded turret. There were two hatches side-by-side. One had the dead tank commander. The other was closed and she knew the gunner was under it. There was also a hatch on the front of the tank for the driver, but Ikuro wanted to kill, or capture, the gunner. The problem was it was locked from the inside to prevent soldiers like Ikuro doing exactly what she was trying to do.

"Ikuro," said Fujiwara who was crouching behind the turret. "The commander's hatch is open. Doesn't the gunner sit just below the commander?"

Ikuro looked inside and was greet by a terrified man was clearly saw he was cornered.

"Get out!" ordered Ikuro. The man didn't move, he didn't understand her.

"Get up here!" she shouted making a few hand gestures to make herself understood. Slowly the man opened his hatch and the gunner was dragged by Ikuro. He fell onto the chasse and had Type 89 leveled at his throat by a woman with dark-red hair. She jerked her rifle to indicate he was to get off the tank. Next the gunner was being on the ground with two very big men with rifles.

Hanai checked on the assault team for a second before going back to pinning a platoon down. Ikuro's charge had taken the squad off guard, but they were adapting quickly. The engineers were trying to pry open the driver's hatch, Asou was trying to get some fire support. Hanai had his fire team trying to cover the exposed assault and engineer teams.

"Jupei, frag them out," he ordered pointing to a couple of soldiers shielding themselves behind a BTR-60 that was blown almost in half. Jupei fired a 40mm grenade from her M203. The grenade missed its mark, but nailed a PKAGF soldier and wounded a second.

"Harima, keep them pinned."

The steel-jacketed ammo Harima had in his M-14E3 was devastating. It wasn't quite powerful enough to pierce the destroyed APC's armor, but made huge dents that was more than enough to encourage soldiers to keep their heads down.

"Almost out," called Kitsumori indicating he would have to reload soon. Trying to thin out the numbers of soldiers crossing over the hill was eating up ammo.

A loud distant screech echoed over the valley.

"Shit, those BMs are killing us," said Lt. Colonel Daijin looking through her binoculars. The thick smoke from the rockets' motors made it impossible to actually see the BM-11s, a PKAGF variation of the Soviet BM-21 'Grad', but it wasn't hard to figure out the general location.

"Counter-battery is on it, ma'am," reported CSM Neya, aide to Lt. Colonel Daijin.

"Arigato, Sergeant Major."

Japanese M110A2, retired US 8 inch self-propelled howitzers, zeroed in on the BM-11s positions. Rocket launchers of these kinds were extremely noisy. So noisy it could damage or destroyed human hearing without proper protection.

Although the knowledge the rocket launchers were being destroyed would be some comfort to Asou, the fact that nearly 200 122.4mm free-flight rockets were descending upon his squad made that kind of irrelevant.

Lt. Colonel Daijin fought back tears as she watched her precious battalion disappear from sight in the barrage.

* * *

**1120 Hours; November 24****th****, 2010; Route-1, Kaesŏng; North Hwanghae Province, Democratic People's Republic of Korea**

Harima was rubbing the burn on his neck. Foxglove Company had nearly been destroyed and its surviving members were folded into Echo Company. Dogwood Company had also taken a being, but was mostly in tack.

"Quite picking at it, Kenji, you'll only make it worse," scolded Kurosaki who was checking on Hanai's arm.

"We are some really lucky son's of bitches," said Kitsumori warily. The barrage was directed at the right flank so 3rd platoon and F Company took the biggest loses.

"So this is what we came for, eh?" asked Jupei looking at the massive city below them. Kaesŏng was a depressing looking place and sadly the B-52s had only improved the place by bombing a lot of the bunker-like apartments. She saw another building collapse as the 82nd Mech Infantry Regiment slowly stalled on the outer city defenses.

Further away, the 81st's officers assembled for a meeting. There was the noticeable absence of Foxglove's officers.

"10th is moving to the left flank. The South Koreans have the right," said Colonel Hojo pointing to spots on the map.

"As usual, military intelligence is less than accurate," said Lt. Colonel Daijin dryly. "We destroyed a division and maybe a few companies. The South Koreans destroyed a division and a couple of stray battalions."

"Sounds good," said Captain Nara.

"Not really when you consider the enemy has nearly 20 divisions," she said deadpanned.

"I thought they were all in the territory we just covered," said Lt. Matsumoto.

"They were, but they fell back to much more secure locations north of Kaesŏng," started Hojo.

"They're counter-attacking in mass like in Pusan, aren't they?" finished Captain Hitsugaya.

"Unlike before where they dumbly concentrating on one point, they are attacking in a pincer move," said Hojo drawing two arrows on the map that converge in the middle of Kaesŏng. He drew a star incased in two rings, the KPA insignia, next to the arrows to mark them as KPA.

"The RoKA's 1st Armor Division is stalled on a defensive line on the southeast side of the city," he said drawing an arrow from the southeast and labeling it '1st AD'. He then drew a line in from of them with perpendicular lines going through it, the visual drawing of a defensive line. That put the 1st Armor roughly 800m outside of Kaesŏng.

"And we're waiting for?" asked Lt. Urashima.

"The 2nd Armor. They're going to spearhead for us," said Daijin.

"So the tanks plow through the front lines and close the gap. Then we maneuver through the urban environment where they aren't as useful," summarized Hojo.

"Same old, same old," said Urashima to himself.

The 4th Armor Brigade of the 2nd Armor Division finally reached the front. The 82nd Mech Infantry Regiment fell back to allow the 4th to use their armor and heavy infantry to deal with the KPAGF's armor division.

Harima could see them in the distance. The tanks looked like toys from where he was, but the explosions of artillery looked just as terrifying there as it did up close. Japanese and South Korean counter-artillery returned fire. North Korean counter-artillery shot back.

A squadron of Japanese B-3s loaded up with cluster bombs started to unleash carpet bombing runs on the positions north of Kaesŏng.

"Is there going to be a city to take at this rate?" asked Hanai warily.

Asou sighed. He wondered too.

"They bombers aren't directly bombing the city. They're hitting the areas around it. They're probably trying to thin out the enemy reinforcements," said Ishida who was cleaning his glasses.

"The arty is hitting Kaesŏng," pointed out Abarai as a building disappeared in a rain of shells.

"Whose tanks are those?" asked Asou seeing a fresh wave of tanks rolling up from the south.

"5th Reserved Armor Brigade," said Toyotomi.

"Good, looks like the 4th could use the backup."

* * *

**1156 Hours; November 24****th****, 2010; Yagami High School, Yagami; Kanagawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

Yakumo never thought of skipping school, but she really wanted to today. Being the good girl she was she wasn't going to. Yakumo was really worried about Mai. Only the other day she told her that Harima would be coming home, but that turned out to be wrong. Did she know? It probably wasn't the sort of thing elementary school students talked about.

A news team from the BBC had managed to get to Kaesŏng. The British Broadcasting Company was probably the largest and most wide spread media agency in the world and naturally had little problems getting reporters to the battle. They were also willing to share with other agencies, for the right price.

In real time, Yakumo and Sarah in the Tea Club Room were watching the news coverage. The man in front of the camera was speaking in English with a British accent. While Sarah, being an Englishwoman, understood the man perfectly, Yakumo was forced to read the subtitles.

"Japanese and South Korean troops seem to be running into a spot of bother outside of the city of Kaesŏng. The artillery very is really quite impressive… and absolutely terrifying," said the reporter. He shuddered and so did the cameraman as explosions went off. "Now from what I gather, the attack has stalled a little. A large group of bombers have been bombing north of the city. We're not sure what they were trying to accomplish. I've been told by a Japanese officer that both sides artillery are trying to destroy each other."

The camera shifted to the left a little and the Tea Club watched as rockets rain on the North Koreans from MLRSs.

"It really is quite noisy here!" shouted the BBC reporter shouting to make himself heard.

Yakumo wanted to ask Sarah if she thought Harima was okay. She wanted to be reassured, but Yakumo couldn't even open her mouth.

* * *

**1345 Hours; November 24****th****, 2010; factory district #3, Kaesŏng; North Hwanghae Province, Democratic People's Republic of Korea**

It had taken over two hours for the 2nd Armor Division to push through, but now the 6th Infantry Division was slowly entering the south part of the Kaesŏng.

Kaesŏng, despite being so close to the DMZ, was a major industrial city. Many residents worked for South Korean companies based in the Kaesŏng Industrial Region. The purpose of the disincorporating the Kaesŏng Province was part of an agreement between the DPRK and RoK. The industrial park was created so North Korean workers could work for and get paid by South Korean industries. It was supposed to help lower tensions between North and South… not that it had worked considering the war.

The North Koreans knew the ambitions of South Koreans to reclaim the city of Kaesŏng, so they disincorperated the province and made Kaesŏng part of the North Hwanghae Province. Strangely, the industrial park retained the name Kaesŏng in it.

The factories here looked like they hadn't been changed since they were first built. Before the division of Korea, the North had most of the industries and the South had the population. This meant North Korea had many factories, but their poorly managed economy meant they didn't really have the money to update much more than some of the machinery. The outside looked much as it had when they were built in the 1940s or 50s.

The road was blocked by ahead by fallen smokestack from one of the factories. The old brick stack had shatter on impact and was down being used as a defensive barrier by the KPAGF. Additional soldiers were firing from a damaged factory.

Harima was trying to carefully pick off the infantry in the factory. Judging by the low rate of fire, they were armed with old Mosin-Nagant 91/30 bolt-action rifle. A couple of them were armed with SKS semi-auto rifle.

An RPG screamed through the air at them. It missed badly and the shooter was shot in the chest by Ishida. More soldiers and conscripts attacked with the old RPG-2.

"5th squad, cover right," ordered Lt. Urashima. Asou moved over to small pile of steel beams. 5th squad spread out behind piles bricks, destroyed UAZs and Urals, and craters.

"Mortars!"

"Shit," Asou cursed. "Get out of them open!"

"We got no where to go!" shouted Hanai.

"Fallback!" ordered Lt. Urashima. They had no choice. They couldn't charge the factory and they couldn't charge the roadblock. Besides, the fallen smokestack made the road impassable to vehicles.

"This Echo 4-0, 2nd platoon is falling back. We're going to have to find a new route, over."

"This is Echo Leader. Understood, Echo 4-0. 3rd platoon is also falling back. Over and out," said Captain Hitsugaya from his position.

"Captain, I can't reach anyone on the 10th Infantry," said Lt. Matsumoto. She sounded a little concerned, but military professionalism prevented her from displaying open fear.

"I'll try, you get 1st platoon to link up with the rest of the company," said Hitsugaya. "This is Echo Leader, 127th Light Infantry respond, over."

The 127th Light Infantry Brigade was supposed to hold the center of the left flank. All Captain Hitsugaya received was confused radio chatter. It cut in and out, but he heard was a unit being overrun. 'Who has our flank?'

"Matsumoto, we're need to go now. Our flank may be gone."

"That's what I was afraid of," she said.

* * *

**1401 Hours; November 24****th****, 2010; Japanese IV Corps Forward HQ, Kaesŏng; North Hwanghae Province, Democratic People's Republic of Korea**

"Sir, elements of 27th Infantry Battalion are in retreat," reported Command Sergeant Major Tazo Tanaguchi.

"Why?" sighed Major General Hyashi Hiroki, commander of the 6th Infantry Division.

"They are encountering heavy resistance and the road is blocked by a fallen smokestack."

"Can't they clear it?" he asked.

"It's made of brick and they enemy is using it as a defensive barrier. Mortars-"

"I get it," interrupted Hyashi. "Okay, it looks like there is an alternative route here… no it's too exposed to mortars. Damn, do you know where the mortar fire is coming from?"

"It must be relocating."

"Of course it is," he said throwing his arms up in the air. "What else could go wrong?"

"Sir, the 10th Infantry are being overrun by three enemy divisions," said a sergeant major.

"I had to ask… what, whose in between my division and the enemy?"

"…"

"Oh, dear Kami-sama… get an APB out to all squads and COs. They need to know now. Tell them to…" he paused and pored over a map. "Tell them to move east and then push north to position Oscar 212, Yankee 101. Then tell them to form a perimeter until relieved."

"Hai, sir," said the sergeant major.

"Tanaguchi, get me the Air Force."

"Who?"

"Anybody, so's long as they got bombs!"

* * *

**1412 Hours; November 24****th****, 2010; factory district #3, Kaesŏng; North Hwanghae Province, Democratic People's Republic of Korea**

"Don't these guys ever quit?" wondered Harima out loud as they pushed for their new objective point.

"Doesn't look like it," answered Kitsumori. This 'run and gun' tactic was very hard for Kitsumori. Light machine guns were poorly suited for accurate shooting while on the go. So were full-sized rifles like the M-14. This was the kind of combat machine pistols, more commonly known as sub-machine guns, were made for as well as the carbine and the assault rifle.

Infantry were running along the sidewalks while tanks and vehicles rolled down the street. KPA harassed the Japanese as they tried to reach the rallying point.

"Fucking… they have to know they got us on the run," said Lt. Urashima into his radio to Captain Hitsugaya.

"Like I didn't notice," he said dryly.

Urashima fired his M-16A5 at a soldier who popped out of an alley. The man crumpled.

The lead units, being Aurora Company of the 26th Heliborne Infantry Battalion, reached an elevated part of the city. The 13th Infantry Brigade would have the north. The 14th Reserved Infantry Brigade would have the southwest. The 15th Infantry Brigade would have the west. This would put a huge wedge between 10th and 6th Divisions, but it would mean the Japanese rear would be protected by the South Koreans 4th Infantry Division.

"Start digging in," ordered Captain Hitsugaya.

Harima pulled out a shovel. He unfolded the blade and extended the telescoping handle. It was an ingenious design that allowed a full-sized shovel to be carried by a soldier.

They started pouring dirt into burlap sacks got passed around. Many of these buildings were leveled by artillery and air strikes. Only one factory, an apartment building, and half of a second apartment stood.

Colonel Hojo rode in a MUTT jeep around the lines. Next to him was Lt. Colonel Daijin.

"The 28th's tanks are going to be kept behind the lines in reserve and I'm putting the 26th on your left. 82nd Regiment has our right. The 84th is just beyond them.

They finished digging slit trenches which were about five feet deep and barely three feet wide. L16 81mm mortars the Japanese had bought from the British Army years ago were in pits out of sight. In scattered foxholes were Type 87 Chu-MAT laser-guided anti-tank missile launchers and Type 79 Jyu-MAT wired-guided anti-tank missile launchers.

"What about air defense?" asked Daijin.

"I wouldn't worry too much about the KPAF, but I did get a few GDF-001s (5) set up in firing range and a Type 93 SAM can be here in 2 minutes."

"Arty?"

"FH-70s in our rear by the brigade HQ," he said. When she gave him a look he shrugged. "I know it isn't a smart idea of having a battery new an HQ, but what can I do?"

* * *

**1439 Hours; November 24****th****, 2010; Japanese IV Corps Forward HQ, Kaesŏng; North Hwanghae Province, Democratic People's Republic of Korea**

"The 6th is in position and are encountering small attacks from KPAGF infantry and light armor. A group of American B-52s bombed the districts between us and the 10th Division. The 10th is regrouping with the 5th Armor," reported CMS Tanaguchi.

"I don't like it," said Maj. General Hyashi.

"It seems fine, sir."

"Iē, look at it. There are only two major highways that come into Kaesŏng from the south. We came up this one from the Panmunjeon and the RoKA came up this one further east. There is still a gap between us and the South Koreans 4th Infantry," said pointing to the sort of wide V the two divisions made. "A good general could have seen this coming. It isn't a hard concept in a situation like this. Kinda' like Napoleon did at Austerlitz (6). They had to know we would have to bring our armor up these two highways. We would try to secure our flanks. So they figure out a way to divide us."

"But then what?"

"Don't know… well aside from the obvious."

"Being?"

"Think about it," said the general. "The 10th and 5th could easily be cut off from us. If they can bring in a division or two, they could drive a wedge between us and the South Koreans."

"And then cut us all off?" asked Tanaguchi.

* * *

**1510 Hours; November 24****th****, 2010; foundry district #9, Kaesŏng; North Hwanghae Province, Democratic People's Republic of Korea**

The first indications of what was coming started.

Kitsumori was shooting at everything that moved. Tsutsui was also trying to suppress the advancing enemy with his FN Minimi. The rest of 5th squad was trying to pick off the KPAGF soldiers and conscripts.

2nd platoon was dug in and deep as they could in the short time they had.

Many of the KPAGF were pinned down or tried to return fire from the rubble downhill. Those brave, or dumb, enough to charge up the hill in the open faced two M2 .50 caliber heavy machine guns.

"Hey… that's coming from behind," said Kurosaki noticing some of the green tracers were coming from the wrong direction.

"Nani? …where the fuck did they come from?!" demanded Asou.

A platoon of KPAGF soldiers was storming their rear.

"Asou, protect the mortars! We got things here!" shouted Master Sergeant Yokoshi Sousuke, commander of 4th squad.

Asou climbed out of his slit trench and leapfrogged with his squad for the mortar pits. Asou didn't get far before he found himself unable to advance in any further. They were shooting from a further distance than normal and with much greater accuracy.

"What the hell are they shooting?" asked Ikuro.

"Shit, they're on our flank!" warned Amakasu.

Abarai tossed a frag grenade at the flanking soldiers who quickly retreated to a safer distance before throwing an RGD-5, an old Soviet fragmentation grenade.

They needed an opening to slip away. Asou knew his objective wasn't to destroy these guys, but to defend the mortar pits. They were ducking around the remains of a destroyed apartment which had many hiding places.

Asou tossed a smoke grenade and ran. He climbed over a pile of cinderblocks. There were a couple of men trying to set up a mortar. They didn't see Asou or the 15 other soldiers… or the white flashes of automatic weapons being fired.

"What's this?" asked Asou holding what looked like an ordinary AK-47 in front of Harima.

"… it's called the AKM. It's a better version of the AK-47. Supposed to have longer range and is cheaper to make," said Harima.

The Avtomat Kalashnikov Modernizirovanniy, which literally means auto rifle Kalashnikov modernized, was a version of the AK-47 introduced to the Soviet Red Army in 1959 and is sometimes called the AK-59, but almost always called the AKM. It was called the Type 68 in the KPAGF and the Type 56 in the PLAGF. It was also supposed to have 200m longer effective range.

A bullet ricocheted nearby, reminding them of the KPA. 5th ran until they reached the mortars. There were four L16s, each in a deep 8ft hole surrounded by sandbags. While it was deeper than the foxholes and slit trenches the infantry had dug, it was much wider so the mortar crews could maneuver 37.5kg weapon. The mortars weren't part of the 27th Infantry, they were part of a battery regiment assigned to the 14th Brigade. The each mortar had a crew of three soldiers. One was the gunner who sighted the weapon, the second was the loader who placed the shell into the barrel, and the third was an assistant. A mortar came in three pieces, a base plate, barrel, and a bipod, and each man would carry one of these pieces in addition to some of the ammo. The third man would also keep an eye out for danger.

"APC!" shouted a on of the mortar crews. A BMP-1 with supporting infantry rolled cautiously towards the mortars.

Harima raised his AT4, but was forced to dive behind the remains of a concrete wall as a volley of machine gun fire tried to cut him down. Judging by the noise, it was a PKM light machine gun, a Soviet equivalent of the M-60. Unlike the RPD and RPK that used the 7.62x39mm or RPK-74 which used the 5.45x39mm, the PKM used the powerful 7.62x54mm. It was deadly and accurate.

The BMP-1, no longer in danger, rolled forward using it's armor to shield the infantry behind it and rake the Japanese with its coaxial machine gun. The APC came to a halt. Asou heard the distinctive noise of the hydraulic system rotating the turret and he knew what was coming next.

"Hit the dirt!"

**Boom!**

A 73mm shell exploded causing the wall Harima was hiding behind to fall. Harima found himself horrible exposed and facing a Soviet built armor personnel carrier and a platoon of infantry.

'… it can't end like this,' he thought numbly. 'I was so close.'

**Boom!**

A shell narrowly missed the BMP-1. The KPAGF infantry scattered and Harima seized the opportunity to live to see another day. A Type 10 medium tank with a Type 73 APC from the 28th Armor Battalion had come upon hearing of the surprise flanking maneuver.

A squad deployed from the rear of the Type 73 and rallied around their armor.

"Attention 81st, this is Yoroi Uma Six, we are falling back to the 4th Infantry's position. All companies are to assist and support our artillery and auxiliary units as they withdraw. Over and out."

The order that went out over the radio channels. It was shocking to hear an order of withdraw, but it was from the Colonel.

* * *

**1521 Hours; November 24****th****, 2010; Republic of Korea Armed Forces Headquarters, Seoul; Seoul National Capitol Area, Republic of Korea**

"The 6th Infantry Division is falling back to your 4th Infantry Division," said Lt. General Honnoji. Although the Japanese had the better defensive position, the South Koreans held one of the two highways into Kaesŏng. If the 4th moved, then both divisions would be but cut of from their own side.

"The 1st Armor Division is rushing to attack this new unit. They seemed to have come from a location between the two highways," said General Goguryeo.

"Yes, one of my division commanders informed me we were falling into a trap. We're up against an elite unit of infantry with some armor. My 10th and 5th Divisions are completely cut off. I have as much air support inbound on their position as I can get."

There was a long silence.

"If your 1st Armor doesn't reach 6th and 4th Infantry, we lose the entire right. Then they can bring their full force against 10th Infantry and 5th Armor. Japan can't afford to lose all those men and women," said Honnoji quietly.

"I know. But it's in their hands now," said Goguryeo warily.

* * *

**1550 Hours; November 24****th****, 2010; Route-2, Kaesŏng; North Hwanghae Province, Democratic People's Republic of Korea**

Asou had no idea where 1st or 3rd platoon were. 2nd platoon was now with the remains of a South Korean company.

Asou slid down behind a pile of dirt for protection while he loaded a fresh clip into his Type 89 assault rifle. A South Korean soldier next to him was firing his Daewoo K-2 assault rifle. A single K21 IFV, almost identical to the Type 89 IFV, was supporting the 50+ soldiers trying to repel a company of KPAGF soldiers.

"Sergeant Haneon, move your squad to the left and take that K-6!" ordered a South Korean first lieutenant. A two-man team picked up a South Korean version of the US M2 heavy machine gun and moved it to a building overlooking the four-lane road the KPA were trying to take.

The South Korean officer was sweating hard. His captain was shot two hours ago and he was trying to keep the remainder of the company together. He had a US built M60A3 medium tank and a second K21 IFV, but both were destroyed earlier. The only reinforcements he'd seen all day was a squad of Japanese soldiers who must have gotten separated from their company. The lieutenant didn't know how to communicate with the Japanese sergeant, but he seemed doing fine on his own.

"There's a break. Amakasu, set up some claymores," ordered Asou.

"On it," said Amakasu leading Mori and Tsutsui down a road a little. They placed US made claymore anti-personnel mines. Unlike a traditional landmine, the claymore didn't explode upwards, but pelted a specific direction with shrapnel. They were also detonated by a trip-wire or a handheld detonator. The newer ones sent out a small laser beam that when interrupted would detonate the claymore. They also laid a few anti-tank mines, but they only had three.

Once the engineers were finished they returned to the line.

Two PT-76s and three Type 63s rolled down the road. Surrounding them was a company of KPAGF infantry armed with AKM assault rifles and PRD light machine guns. Some had RPG-7 anti-tank launchers and what looked like SA-14 Gremlins shoulder-launch SAMs.

They paused and the South Korean lieutenant felt his heart sink. Maybe they saw the AT-mines the Japanese had hidden under various junk. The ground started to shake, a sure sign of tanks approaching. A T-62 turned a corner down the street. The medium tank slowly progressed towards the Japanese-South Korean position. Both the Japanese and South Koreans waited quietly and out of sight. PT-76s and Type 63s waited while the heavier tank took the lead.

**Boom!!**

The T-62 exploded. Shocked KPAGF infantry hide behind their armor. They peeked around from behind the vehicles, but were unable to spot the Japanese and South Korean soldiers. Slowly, the PT-76s and Type 63s advanced.

Harima from the shadows took aim at one of the PT-76s. Ishida was hiding underneath some sheet metal with his M-21 trained on a KPAGF lieutenant. Toyotomi was trying to get a hold of any fire support. Kitsumori and Tsutsui had their LMGs ready to fire. The rest of 5th squad and the South Korean company were ready to fire.

The lead APC tripped second AT-mine.

"Open fire!" shouted Asou.

The lieutenant Ishida was watching fell as a bullet went clean through his head. The North Koreans ran for the ditches on the sides of the road, not noticing the small metal objects they were slightly curved.

"Take that you communist bastards," said the lieutenant to himself.

Harima fired an 84mm rocket at the lead light tank. Pausing only to see if he hit it, Harima snuck away to a new location. A second later a 76.2mm shell destroyed the place where Harima had fired from.

The surviving light tank fired its smoke dischargers and the enemy disappeared.

"They'll be back soon," said Asou. "Call for backup."

"Hai, sir," said Toyotomi as he dialed his radio for regimental HQ.

* * *

**1600 Hours; November 24****th****, 2010; 6****th**** Division Field HQ, Kaesŏng; North Hwanghae Province, Democratic People's Republic of Korea**

"Enemy is tiring," said Colonel Hojo.

"So are we," said Brigadier General Kaitomi Momoko, commander of the 15th Infantry Brigade. "When does the 1st Armor Division reach us?"

"If they reach us… maybe in half an hour," said Colonel Matsuoka Kazuhiko, commander of the 94th Light Infantry Regiment of the 15th Infantry Brigade. "My regiment can hold for maybe that long if we have proper fire support."

"Most of the Air Force is trying to blast a hole in the lines for the 10th and 5th. They're both completely cut off," said Brigadier General Nagato Nagaru, commander of the 13th Infantry Brigade.

"So are we," said Kaitomi.

"Hai, but command seems to think we'll be okay with South Korean air support."

"Where is this air support?" asked Lt. Colonel Daijin. "I haven't seen them."

"Go figure. By the way, who is in charge of the 14th?"

"I'm acting commander for now," said Hojo. "Shiori is pretty much running my regiment now."

There was the distant sound of artillery.

"Here they come again."

* * *

**1609 Hours; November 24****th****, 2010; Route-2, Kaesŏng; North Hwanghae Province, Democratic People's Republic of Korea**

"Fall back!" shouted Asou upon seeing the company of P'okpoong and BMP-1s. The South Koreans too ran in the face of these overwhelming numbers.

"This is Echo 5-3, we are falling back! We have an armor company advancing on our position. Unable to hold. Over," said Toyotomi as he ran.

"This is Echo Leader, 5th squad can you hold? Over."

"Negative, Captain. We only have two anti-tank weapons and we've already used all our mines. Over."

'Shit,' cursed Captain Hitsugaya. The enemy had a clean shot at storming their HQ. "All squads pullback to the regimental HQ, now!"

The lines were collapsing as the entire 27th Infantry Battalion broke ranks.

Harima was running harder than he had at the sports fest during his second year of high school. One because there was a battalion trying to overrun him, and two because his own side was shelling the area into oblivion.

Dogwood, Echo, and Foxglove Companies reach the 81st Heliborne/Armor Regiment Headquarters. The 26th Heliborne Infantry Battalion had some defensive positions ready. They had a few AT-guns and some ATGM launchers ready. They were on a hill. On the other side was a police headquarters that was being used as the regimental HQ. The enemy would have come from the apartment lined streets and into the open where the Japanese were going to make their last stand.

5th squad dived into a trench with Baton Company's 1st platoon.

Three P'okpoongs emerged from the streets and advanced uphill. A 105mm anti-tank towed-gun fired a shell and disabled one tank. Another three P'okpoongs charged out of the residential district. APCs and infantry followed the tanks.

"Haruki, I don't think that's a battalion," said Harima as the enemy continued to pour out and onto the hill.

Kitsumori fired in short bursts. He was on his last belt. Hanai had loaded the last AT rocket into Harima's AT4. Ammo was running low for Echo Company. There was an explosion. Ikuro found herself 4ft from where she originally was. She had dropped her carbine and was desperately looking for her assault team. She spotted Kurosaki who was picking himself off the ground. His noise was broke and there was a cut on his forehead.

"Where's Abarai and Fujiwara?" she demanded.

"Renji over there," said Kurosaki pointing to the redheaded man who was on his back, but groaning. His leg was in a grotesque and unnatural position, clearly broken. It was a few seconds before she realized her neck-length black hair was flying freely in the open air. Her helmet was gone too.

"Fujiwara?"

"Over… here… itai (7)," said someone raising a hand from the trench. Fujiwara was bleeding from her gut. Kurosaki pushed her on her back and told her to not move. Ikuro, assisted by Yamako, carried Abarai into the trench.

"What can you do for her?" asked Ikuro.

"This is way beyond me. There's shrapnel just below the stomach. Her liver could be hit," said Kurosaki recognizing the magnitude of the situation. "Renji isn't much better. His leg is not only broken. His artery is bleeding too. It's a slow bleed, but I they may have no more than two hours. These two will bleed out if we don't get them out. I can only delay the damage, but they need to get to a MASH."

"I doubt a chopper will fly through this," said Asou who came to see his subordinates. "Our options are limited. We can't retreat anymore. I won't abandon our regiment or the Lt. Colonel."

* * *

**1615 Hours; November 24****th****, 2010; Matsuri Restaurant, Yagami; Kanagawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

Tsukamoto Tenma, Tsukamoto Yakumo, and Harima Mai were glued to the TV hanging over the bar. The Englishman was the only report on scene and was still covering the battle. Both women and the young girl were impressed this man was risking his life. The restaurant was stuffed to capacity and Yuuya and Sarah were running around to keep up with the people that were ordering food and drinks as they watched.

"I can't give any of the specifics, but the battle has taken a turn for the worse. It's no secret that the Japanese and South Korean are badly outnumbered. And- oh blood hell!"

The reporter dived into a hole in the ground dragging the cameraman with him.

"Tom, you still with me?" asked the reporter helping the cameraman to his feet.

"Yeah, but my hears are ringin'. Keep going. Don't let these commie bastards stop us."

"Right'o. Sorry about that ladies and gentlemen, but this is a very dangerous area. I am unable to find anyone in command. I'm sure they are too busy to speak with me anyways. American planes are still flying heavy air support. Much of Kaesŏng has been destroyed by carpet bombing. I'm currently with the Japanese soldiers. I won't tell you what unit or where I am. I don't want to see able more North Koreans than I have today."

The people in the Matsuri were hanging on every word… er, subtitle, since most didn't speak English. People were desperate to see what was happening to their sons, daughters, cousins, aunts, uncles, mothers, fathers, friends, and love-ones.

"Kenji-kun is probably safe," said Tenma. Tenma wasn't smart, but she knew when her younger sibling was troubled… sometimes.

"Arigato, Nee-san," said Yakumo quietly. Mai was really quiet. Her adopted family was clearly fighting every second for survival. She remembered her birthday only barely three months ago. That was the last time she saw Shimazu and Kaoji. Hanai, Asou, Kitsumori, Yamako, and Harima were still out there in killzone.

'Don't die,' Mai pleaded in her mind. 'You're all I have now.'

* * *

**1638 Hours; November 24****th****, 2010; outer perimeter of 81****st**** Heliborne/Armor Infantry Regiment HQ, Kaesŏng; North Hwanghae Province, Democratic People's Republic of Korea**

"19… 18… 17…," said Harima as he counted off his remaining ammo. "… 4... 3… 2… 1… 0. I out, need ammo!"

Harima knew that was in vain. Ishida's M-21 was a variation of the M-14, but he was also on his last clip. Kitsumori was completely out of ammo was had disappeared to the rear to cut more with Jupei.

With nothing else, Harima drew out the M1911A1. He had one 8-round clip in the gun and another four. Forty .45 caliber armor piercing cartridges were all he had.

"I ain't dying yet you bastards!" declared Harima. "And you ain't taking Haruki, Asou, or Kazu with ya'! … cause Suō-san, Sarah-san, and Mai-chan would kill me."

"Arigato, Kenji," said Hanai wryly. He still had one clip left, but Hanai was trying to conserve his ammo.

A T-62 was leading the charge for the KPAGF. Many were conscripts armed with outdated weapons and regulars with AK-47s. The elite soldiers were waiting for the Japanese's line to collapse. Artillery pounded the hill from some distant position. Heavy on wounded and light on ammo, it was only a matter of time. Raw determination was the only thing keeping the Japanese fighting against the larger enemy force. The North Koreans too were approaching empty. Hundreds-of-thousands of their soldiers were dead and they had only a few divisions left. Most had been chewed up by massive US and Japanese air support.

Harima fired as the KPA came in close enough. He fired until the slide-bolt locked in the open position. Pressing the clip release, he replaced the empty clip with a fresh one and shut the bolt. Harima took careful aim and shot a North Korean NCO in the neck. The man struggled to get a shot off, but Harima shot him in the head and he crumpled. Harima felt like he was just punched and in shock he dropped to his knees. He looked down and saw he'd been shot. He looked at the hole in his jacket, but the round was stuck in his Kevlar vest and hadn't gone through.

Harima looked for who had shot him, but Hanai was faster and put a bullet in soldier's chest. Hanai then removed the depleted magazine and loaded his last clip of thirty 5.52x45mm cartridges. He next mounted his bayonet.

Harima fired at three charging soldiers. He hit a woman once killing her. A man twice in the torso. He pulled the trigger to finish the third man, but he gun was empty. The man was almost on top of Harima. On pure instinct Harima grabbed the barrel of his M-14E3 and wielding like a baseball bat, hit him across the face.

Hanai turned and fired a shot into the man's head while he was sprawled on the ground.

Harima grabbed the man's rifle, an old SKS. It was empty and the soldier had no ammo on him. Disappointed, Harima loaded his last pistol mag into his Colt .45 and braced himself.

He fired at woman who was pulling the pin on a grenade. Another at a man with a bolt-action rifle. Harima fired a third, but missed. His forth round missed. The stress was making his hand shake and he couldn't get a good shot. He waited for the soldier to get closer. He fired and hit him in the gut. He fired his sixth round at a soldier blasting away with a PPSh-41 sub-machine gun. His seventh shot missed. Harima took careful aim and fired his eighth and final shot. Hitting an officer in the jaw.

Harima had no ammo. Hanai was already out of pistol mags and was on his last five rifle rounds.

"Bingo on ammo," said Hanai.

"Same. This is Echo 5-6, me and 5-5 are bingo on ammo," reported Harima.

"Echo 5-1, gomen, Harima, but we can't help," said Asou sadly.

"Sō desu ka (is that so)? Guess it can't be helped. Arigato for everything, SSgt. Asou. Me and Haruki will see you later."

"On the other side?"

"Hell no! I told you guys I'm too close to die now!" bellowed Harima. "There are some girls in Yagami who need me. One who needs a big brother and one who needs boyfriend."

Asou smiled in despite of himself. "Harima, I have to admire your spirit. Even if it's because you're a moron. We'll you're our moron. See ya' soon."

Harima turned to Hanai. They had no ammo or grenades. They hide in the trenches and knifed KPAGF soldiers as they dropped into the trenches. Harima picked up an AK-47 from one of the soldiers and passed it to Hanai. He then took an AKM for himself.

"That artillery is tearing us apart," commented Hanai.

"Shut up and shoot," said Harima.

"Oi, I out rank you. Don't tell me what to do," said Hanai with a grin.

"Big deal. So you have one more arc than me," said Harima. Arguing was normal for them. In a way it was their comfort zone.

"Well too bad- … whose planes are those?"

"Eh? … look like F-15s," said Harima.

The fighters turned left and dropped a series of laser-guided bombs somewhere in the middle of the city. The artillery suddenly stopped and did not continue. The planes did a flyover the Japanese and Hanai and Harima had a good look at the squadron of F-15K Slam Eagles of the RoKAF.

"Where have they been all day!" demanded Hanai.

"Hey, at least the artillery stopped!" said Harima.

A T-55 was rolling up the hill and Harima and Hanai were trying to pick off the soldiers advancing with it. The tank was almost on top of them. Then it exploded. Hanai felt his arm get torn and Harima felt searing pain in his leg. Pieces of the tank he cut them. Hanai's left arm was in bad shape and Harima couldn't stand on his right leg. Both were on their backs hiding and not knowing what was happening.

Shells were exploding. They could hear the sounds of heavy tanks approaching. Sabots flew over their heads. They could see the exchange of red and green lights. The ground shook and rattled. Five minutes later it was over.

The silence was deafening.

A man appeared at the edge of the trench. He said something in Korean. Hanai couldn't wield a rifle easily with one arm and Harima had dropped his when his leg gave.

The man repeated the same thing. When the two Japanese soldiers didn't move the man lowered himself into the trench. He kneeled down in front of them Hanai and Harima saw he was dressed in a South Korean uniform.

"You two need a medic?" he asked for the third time.

"Seoyon, they don't know what you're saying," chided a sergeant. "Get a medic. We passed one of their MASHs on the way here. Someone can dropped them off there."

"Understood, sir," said the private.

Harima was helped up by a South Korean private first class. He saw several K1 heavy tanks race for the middle of Kaesŏng in pursuit of the KPAGF.

Harima was being carried to a M393 truck and put in with several other wounded soldiers.

"Hey, guys," greeted Kurosaki who was checking a bandage on Fujiwara.

"Fiona, are you okay?" asked Harima.

"Yup. Ichigo says I'll be fine," said Fujiwara. "I can't die yet. You still have a strong Japanese accent."

Harima grinned.

"What happened to Renji?"

"Artillery. He's just sleeping. I've got them both stable, but they need to be treated in the next hour. Let me check you two."

"Fine," said Hanai and Harima.

"Where is everyone else?" asked Hanai.

"They're being relieved by the South Korean's 1st Armor Division. But guess what," said Kurosaki. His grimace was gone and a huge smile was on his face.

"Nani?"

"We're going home."

At 1800 hours, a ceasefire was declared.

* * *

**1200 Hours (UTC +1); November 25****th****, 2010; Stallgatan Hotel, Stockholm; Uppland Province, Kingdom of Sweden**

**Korean Standard Time (UCT +9): 1700 Hours; November 25****th****, 2010**

"So it is agreed then?" asked the Swedish Prime Minister to the DPRK and RoK leaders.

North Korean foreign minister and his deputies looked at each other and slowly nodded. The South Korean foreign minister and the ambassador to Sweden nodded, but with a broad smiles.

South Korean and NATO foreign ministers and ambassadors had gathered in Sweden to negotiate a peace treaty with the North Koreans. The North Koreans couldn't continue the war. They had used too many resources and the losses were too great. Also a group of US bombers flew over Pyongyang, capitol of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. They didn't drop able bombs, but it sent a clear message they North Korean was powerless to defend their capitol, let only continue offensive operations.

Prime Minister Gustav Skötkonung was very pleased in mediating the end of the Korean War which was easily the greatest conflict of the 21st Century. He loved that he was continuing the peace-loving traditions of the Swedes and helping end such a bloody war.

"So I declared on this day, November 25th, 2010, that the Korean War is over."

In the final agreement: the Korean Demilitarized Zone would be redrawn to what it had basically looked like in 1950. Kaesŏng would be returned to the Republic of Korea and the Kaesŏng Industrial Region would now be part of the Republic of Korea, but renamed the Kaesŏng Province. Kaesŏng would be the provincial seat of power and would be the Kaesŏng Special Administrative Province. North Korea would return all NATO and South Korean POWs (prisoners of war).

In return, the KPA would not have to pay for damages caused to the Republic of Korea and Federation of Japan. North Koreans captured by the South Koreans and Japanese would be returned to North Korea.

South Korea and Japan were a little upset they didn't get reparations for the damaged caused by the North Korean invasions, but they would get their captured soldiers again… or North Korean would have dire consequences.

The question of war crimes would probably take years. So far neither side had made any motions, but undoubtedly they would come one day.

The war was over.

* * *

**1530 Hours; November 29****th****, 2010; Yagami High School, Yagami; Kanagawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

Yakumo walked to the Tea Club room. She would be alone today. Sarah was called to the Matsuri to cover for a worker who had called in sick. There were two 1st years and one 2nd year in the club, but they were gone for various reasons. Yakumo knew the 2nd year was in the Drama Club and was practicing for a performance. One of the two 1st years was studying for the second term exams that would start in mid-December. The last one had been sick for the past few days.

Yakumo entered the old building and walked to the second floor. She opened the door and froze. There was a man in the room with his back to her. He was big.

On the table was a cup of tea and a teapot. Next to it was an enlisted soldier's dress cap and a pair of sunglasses. Leaning against the table was a pair of crutches.

"Ano… may I help you?" asked Yakumo wondering who this stranger was.

"Hai, I think you can, Yakumo-chan," he a voice she'd longed to hear for so long. Harima Kenji turned in his seat to face Yakumo. "I made some tea for you. I hope you don't mind."

"Iē. Arigato. I hope you didn't go to any trouble," she said nervously. She'd waited for this for so long and now she was scared of his response.

"It wasn't any trouble. It's not like I had to go through a minefield to get the tea," he laughed.

Yakumo smiled a little as she took a seat and accepted the cup of black tea. Harima had changed his hair-style since she last saw him. It was combed forward and she thought he looked better that way.

Harima had noticed Yakumo was different. Her hair was longer and reached the small of her back, which he liked. What was really different was the way she was holding herself. Yakumo was holding herself differently.

"You've changed, Yakumo," said Harima dropping the suffix. Japanese didn't drop the suffixes like 'san' and 'kun' to show they were really close to a person or total contempt.

"A sō desu ka? Dōyatte (how)?" asked Yakumo.

"You're not the shy girl I left behind and was dumb enough to ignore all these years. You're a woman, Yakumo. A woman who I owe an apology," said Harima. He stretched and rubbed the cast on his leg. "I thought really hard about your letter. I nearly got into a car accident and almost got killed in all kinds of ways because I was trying to think what to do."

"I didn't mean to cause you so much trouble."

"Iē, I'm sorry for not noticing your feelings for so long… and using you to get closer to your sister. That was wrong, but I didn't know you had feelings," said Harima not meeting her eyes.

"Kenji, you aren't very observant. I didn't think you would ever notice… and I thought you would make Nee-san happy."

"… I didn't really stop to think you had feelings… I was selfish. You gave up your feelings for your sister," said Harima looking her in the eye. Black staring into red. "I wish I could have been the friend you deserved."

Yakumo blushed. "So… your decision."

"Well, I didn't know what to do so… I called my mother."

"Your mother?" asked Yakumo. It hadn't really occurred to Yakumo that Harima had family other than Itoko or Shuuji.

"Hai, she's… well I haven't spoken to her in a while and I was on leave so she flew down and met with me."

"How?"

"I may be dirt poor, but my family has money. I just didn't want it," said Harima not meeting her eyes again. "Anyways, we talked and I realized I haven't been as good a friend as you deserved."

"I disagree. You've been there for me. Kenji, you don't know it, but you've helped me a lot. Most of the time it's by accident, but you do."

"I think you give me way too much credit."

"So do you."

They fell into a long awkward silence. Yakumo had slowly inched her way closer to Harima.

"You really love me?" asked Harima finally. "I know you're okay with my as the delinquent, but after everything I saw in the war… I may not be the person you knew before the war."

"Kenji, you're manga. Arima Kanji is supposed to be you. Besides, who's going to take of Mai?"

"I can do that," said Harima a little annoyed.

"But who will take care of you?" asked Yakumo with a trace of a grin. Harima stared at her, then laughed.

"I guess we're not the same people anymore," said Harima. Yakumo nodded. She felt something warm on top of her hand. The rough skin of Harima's palm was on top of Yakumo's smooth creamy skin of the back her hand. He spoke in a low shy voice, "I'm so sorry for all the problems I've caused you. I know I still be responsible for disaster after another. But if you're okay with that… than I want to be with you… I love you too."

Yakumo felt tears glisten in her red eyes. She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.

"Yakumo?"

"Hai," she whispered sweetly.

"You're leaning on my wound," said Harima gritting his teeth in pain.

"Gomen! What happened?"

"The South Koreans blew up a tank in front of me and a piece of it hit me and Haruki. We're both fine, but having a chunk of a North Korean tank rip open your leg is pretty painful."

"I'm sure it is," said Yakumo. She smiled and said, "guess you're not the only who's going to be causing the problems in this relationship."

"Guess not," laughed Harima. She really was beautifully when she smiled. One of the many things he was just appreciating about his first girlfriend.

Yakumo checked her watch. "We need to pick up Mai. She'll be really surprised you're back home… for good right?"

"Unless another war comes, I'm home… wait… I don't have a-"

"With me you do. Nee-san will probably want to celebrate. If I know her, she'll prepare a party the moment she hears you're back," said Yakumo rising.

"Arigato," said Harima gratefully putting his cap back on and slipping his crutches under his armpits. "You think we can stop by a store at some point?"

"Why?"

"I still need to get Tenma-san a birthday present."

"You didn't get her one in Korea?"

"I didn't think there was anything in North Korea that was safe for her… I did pick up a North Korean flag for Mai. It's from Kaesŏng," said Harima.

"Where is it?"

"At Haruki's family's dojo with my stuff. I'll pick it up later."

"What's Hanai-sempai doing?"

"Meeting Suō-san at the station. She's arriving later today. Don't worry, he's over you. Oh, he said he would like to be friends, but understands if you're still scared of him."

"Iē, that will be fine," said Yakumo. It would be a relief for her.

Yakumo was vaguely aware that everyone was staring at her and Harima. They were whispering about the beautiful 3rd year and delinquent-now-turn-war-hero walking together. For once, Yakumo didn't care that she was the center of attention again. Harima was hobbling along and talking to her normally. Asking her about what was new in Yagami. They left the school grounds and headed towards Yagami Elementary School to give Mai the surprise of her life.

* * *

**2237 Hours; November 29****th****, 2010; Tsukamoto Residence, Yagami; Kanagawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

"Go to sleep, Mai-chan. I promise I'll be here in the morning," said Kenji tucking in Mai.

"Hai, Onii-chan. I love you," said Mai giving her brother a hug… that legally was her father, but considered her big brother.

"I love you too. We have a long life ahead of us," said Kenji getting his crutches and limping out of the room. He turned off the light and closed the door.

Kenji hobbled down the hall to his room. He leaned his crutches against the dresser and opened the sock drawer.

"Kenji?"

"Oh, Yakumo. You going to bed?" asked Kenji seeing she was in her flannel pajamas.

"Hai, I just wanted to make sure you were settled before I go to sleep."

"Tenma-san made sure of that. Quite a party at the Matsuri," he said putting his cap on the dresser and undoing the black tie.

"Hai. I hope it wasn't too much for you and the others."

"Iē, we were expecting that," said Kenji removing his boots.

"I hope Nee-san likes your present."

"Me too. I need to get her to like or we might have a few problems," laughed Kenji.

Yakumo smiled. "She's protective, but giving her way she'll set a wedding date for us. Don't be surprised if she starts calling herself your sister-in-law."

"One step at a time, Yakumo," said Kenji hiding the Three Who Got Slashed DVD box-set in his underwear drawer where he figured no one would look. Yakumo walked over to Kenji and laced her hand into his. Kenji looked at her. She stood on her toes and kissed him gently and sweetly on the lips.

"Oyasuminasai (good-night)," she said quietly.

"Oyasuminasai," said Kenji removing his pistol belt. Yakumo watched him pull out the black gun with the brown waffle-grip handle. He ejected the clip and placed it in his sock drawer. Kenji pulled the slide-bolt back to make sure the chamber was clear, which it was.

Kenji put the Colt M1911A1 .45 caliber semi-automatic handgun in the drawer. He looked at it for a brief moment and turned to Yakumo. "There'll be another war someday, Yakumo. They'll need me again."

"But not today," she said putting her hand on his hand that was on the sock drawer's handle. "Let's hope you won't need that for a long time."

"I hope so too," said Kenji leaning his head on top of hers.

Together, they closed the drawer.

* * *

This is the longest chapter I ever wrote. It's over 16,500 words long. I hope you all enjoyed the end of the war. I'm really sorry it took so long to write this chapter. I didn't even bother proofreading cause it's so long. I tried to make it a big final battle and resolve the YakumoxKenji relationship.

Stay tuned for the last chapter which will be coming soon. Thank you all for sticking with me this long.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya

Appendix

1. The RoKAF currently has 34 F-15K Slam Eagles, a variation of the F-15E, in service. There are another 26 on order from McDonnell-Douglas, maker of the F-15 series. They primary aim is the replace their aging fleet of F-4D Phantom fighter-bombers with the faster and more capable Slam Eagles. Because the Slam Eagle is more recent than the Strike Eagle, they are equipped with much more state-of-the-art equipment like the Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System.

2. Tōgō Haruna is a minor character in School Rumble who goes unnamed in the first season. She is in Class 1-D with Tsukamoto Yakumo, Tawaraya Satsuki, and Sarah Adiemus. She appears talking with her fellow classmate Inaba Miki, another minor character, in episode 21 of the first season. For those who have seen the anime may recall just before the sport fest when Hanai Haruki returns from his training and overhears Miki and Haruna talking about Harry Mackenzie, but Hanai mishears them and thinks they are talking about Harima Kenji (their names sound similar).

3. Gang is the Korea word for river. Gawa is the Japanese word for river.

4. I have a map of the Joint Security Area compound, but not of the interior of the buildings.

5. The Oerlikon is twin-barrel 35mm anti-air gun produced by a Swiss company called Oerlikon-Contraves. It is used by several militaries like Austria, Canada, South Africa, and many more. Germany licensed the Oerlikon to use on their Gepard AA-vehicles. Japan also licensed the Oerlikon for the Type 87 AA-vehicle and 70 of the towed artillery version. Specifically the Japanese use the GDF-001, the original version introduced in the late 1950s.

6. The Battle of Austerlitz is considered French Empire Napoleon Bonaparte's greatest military victory and one of the most stunning victories in history in terms of its tactics. The French engaged a coalition of Russian and Austrian at Austerlitz, Moravia. Napoleon divided his force into independent corps and carefully positioning them. He tricked the Austrians and Russians into thinking he was weak and lured them into a series of traps. Napoleon wanted to get the enemy to do what he wanted as if he commanded them. His carefully laid plan succeeded.

7. Itai is the Japanese word for pain. It is used in a sentence to inform someone of pain. Itai can be used by itself as being the equivalent of saying 'ow' or 'ouch' in English.


	60. Chapter 60: All Quiet in the Far East

This is the final chapter ya'll. After this I get to work on the sequel.

I like to thank Seinaru. You were the first person who left a review for Brothers in Arms: Eastern World is Exploding… about two months after I posted the first chapter. I'd also like to thank you for giving me the idea of using appendixes at the end of the chapter. You're right, it does help the story flow easier.

Next I'd like to thank Perrou. You were the first person to list my story as your favorite. You left a bunch a reviews and that helped motivate me in the early stages of this story.

Smokey.Blade, only heard from you the one time, but I appreciated the compliment. Thanks dude.

Thanks you evelsaint93. You too listed this story as your favorite and left a pretty positive review that made my day when I was pretty down.

A very special thank you to Ominae. You've provided me with some useful information that's helped me out along the way. I also am enjoying your story. If anyone is interested in a Full Metal Panic fanfic, check him out. It's called Overwatch. He has 39 other stories too including Gundam Seed, Metal Gear, and Tom Clancy.

Savageking, thank you for your review. I'm glad you like the alternative history. It was something I had on the back of my mind for a couple of years. The hard part was covering 70 years of history in fewer than 5,000 words.

Thank you asdf. You left some nice reviews from time to time.

Grand Admiral Gin, or Gin, you left a bunch of really nice reviews. I know it doesn't seem like much, but leaving reviews helps remind me that people are actually reading this story and waiting for the next chapter. Thanks friend.

A big thank you to ahgwa. You were the only person to list me as a favorite author, in addition to listing the story as a favorite. I haven't counted, but I think you left more reviews and any one person. In your first review you joked about the fact you were learning history from a School Rumble fanfic and I fully appreciate the irony. You also were the only person who encouraged me to move away from the military and more about the civilians and led to some of my most popular chapters. Whether you know it or not, you helped shaped the outcome of this story and some of the chapters wouldn't have existed with your prompts for some more non-military moments.

Lord Sivart, thanks for the review. Sorry this isn't a Flag Faction story, but I'm more of a Yakumo fan than an Eri fan. Also thanks for pointing out that error. I don't know how it happened, but it wasn't supposed to happen.

Thank you aznblackhowling for listing this story as your favorite. I know this is a long story and I wonder how long it will take for someone to surpass this one in length.

TwinRivers, thanks for the review. Glad you enjoyed chapter 52 because I worked hard on it. Even creating a family history for Harima.

Bob, glad you were reading my story, but leave a review, not something that is totally unconnected.

Sam W. Glad you like the battle scenes. I didn't think my earlier ones were that good, but it was nice thing to say.

Tenithus, I'm happy you enjoyed this story and the previous chapter.

DarkBeastBoy, I'm pleased to hear from a loyal reader. I knew you guys were out there somewhere. I hope you like this final chapter and stick with me for the sequel. If you are reading this then I have finished this story and am probably starting chapter one.

Thank you Nederbird. Sorry you feel that way about Americans, but are current leaders probably don't give you a great reason to like us. Please don't judge us by President Bush or Dick Cheney… or Hilary Clinton. Most Americans aren't like Bush. Since you left a review for chapter 2, I guess it will be a while before you get to here. Thanks for reading.

Blackfire41 and Ryulong, you two didn't leave a review, but I appreciate that you listed this story as one of your favorites.

All of you helped in one way or another. I want ya'll to know that I am reading what you are saying and love hearing from you all. Thanks guys.

Now that that's out of the way, this chapter is going to be a series of small sections telling you what became of the various people that appeared in this story. It is an epilogue for all of my main characters and some of my minor characters.

I would like it if you guys leave one last review. Just tell me what you think and feel free to share reflections of this story.

Thank you Tom Clancy. You don't know it (and you probably aren't even reading this story), but reading Hunt for Red October and Red Storm Rising helped me learn a lot about naval warfare, submarine warfare, and anti-submarine warfare which I knew nothing about before I read your books. It also helped me learn more about the Soviet Union than I could have ever hoped. I have also finished the Patriot Games which is named for an Irish rebel song about the conflict between the Irish and the English. The Patriot Games tells the story before the Hunt for Red October and how Jack Ryan left the Annapolis Naval Academy and joined to Central Intelligence Agency. It is an early book written years before September 11, 2001 about terrorists and the fight against them (maybe Bush should have read it… maybe not). It's about a fictional group called the Ulster Liberation Army, a breakaway faction of the Irish Republican Army, trying to assassinate the Prince of Wales. I'm now reading his fourth book Cardinal in the Kremlin.

Thank you Nee-san (not Tenma, I mean my actually big sister). You never left a review, but you were the only person in my family who read the story. I really appreciate you support and opinions.

Finally a very special thank you to Jin Kobayashi, author of my favorite manga/anime School Rumble. You are the real genius behind all this. This wouldn't have existed without you.

* * *

**Chapter 60 (Epilogue): All Quiet in the Far East**

"This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession,

And least of all an adventure,

For death is not an adventure to those who stand fact to fact with it.

It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who,

Even though they may have escaped its shells,

Were destroyed by the war."

Erich Paul Remark, author of Im Westen nichts Neues, better known by the English translation: All Quiet on the Western Front.

Remark was born in Osnabrück, Germany in 1898 and served in the German Army during World War I. After the war he changed his name to Erich Marie Remarque because of hatred towards Germany. Remark was the first true and greatest war novelist. He captured the true horror and devastation of it all

**0700 Hours; January 17****th****, 2011; Yagami High School, Yagami; Kanagawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

Tani Hayato walked into the teacher's office on the first floor. It was the first day back from the hospital. Tani-senei knew how lucky he was to still be alive. It had been a very close call with that sniper.

"Ohaiyo, Tani-sensei," greeted Katou Kyouji. Tani-sensei muttered something that vaguely sounded like 'go to hell jackass'. Katou had a long reputation of being an arrogant bastard who talked endless often making bad jokes that he alone laughed at.

Tani assembled his notes and left for Class 3-C. He seated himself behind his desk. He pulled out an orange bottle and extracted a single pill. He was on antibiotics to help fight off an infection. He was told that if he didn't take them regularly the infection would be damaged, but would recover and mutated into something beyond current medical help.

"Ohaiyo, class. I am Tani Hayato and I will be teaching English to third years from now on."

He looked at these young minds before him. Did they know where he'd been since May? Were they grateful for the thousands who had sacrificed so much and even their lives for them to be sitting here in this peace?

Maybe it was best they didn't know the full horrors he was just in.

Osakabe Itoko entered her class.

"Ohaiyo, class, I am Osakabe Itoko and I will be teaching science," said Itoko. The boys in her class gawked shamelessly. Some things never change. She ignored them. It was quiet at home for her. Harima was gone. So were Mai and Kitsumori. She missed him a little. Itoko looked at her reflection in the window. 'I'm not getting any younger… maybe I should start dating again.'

* * *

**0740 Hours; January 15****th****, 2011; Hunters Point, San Francisco Naval Shipyard; State of California, United States of America**

"Clara you're going to miss the bus if you don't hurry!" shouted a woman 41-year-old woman in English to a 12-year-old girl.

"Yeah, mom, I'm going," answered the young Asian girl running passed a man who was on a latter trying to fix a ceiling fan. "Bye, dad."

"Bye, Clara. Have a good day," said Rear Admiral JG Michael Bae, commander of the Montana Squadron. "Going from commanding a battleship and eight surface combatants to fixing an electric fan."

"That's only the beginning, you have a lot of chores to make up for while you were sailing around the Pacific," said Emily Bae.

"Yes, dear," said the admiral, resigned to his wife's punishment. He poked at the wiring with a Phillips screwdriver. It appeared some of the wires were corroded. "Sam says hi."

"That's nice of him," said Emily leaning against the living room doorframe and sipping at a cup of coffee. "Must be your dream to command a battle fleet."

"Nah, you don't get to be at sea. I'm happy with being a squadron commander-, dammit I'm going to have to go to Home Depot."

"Great, while you're there you can buy these. I made a list," she said handing him a piece of paper with at least 20 items on it.

"Fine," said Michael grabbing his jacket as he headed for the door.

"Mike."

"Yeah, Emily?" he said pausing at the front door.

"I'm glad your home."

"Me too."

* * *

**1215 Hours; January 18****th****, 2011; Federal Armed Forces Central Hospital, Tokyo; Tokyo Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

"Shiro-chan, I can walk on my own," complained a short petite brunette to an equally short white-haired man. The woman was limping a little.

"Don't call me Shiro-chan, Bed-wetter-Momo, and I don't care. I'm promised your mother to escort you home," said Captain Hitsugaya Tōshirō to his childhood friend Lieutenant JG Hinamori Momo.

"Admiral Byuten offered to arrange transport. You know, we in the Navy can go on land," said Hinamori rolling her eyes, but not fighting the arm linked with hers. Hanging around her neck was gilt badge with white enameled rays and a red enameled disc in the center. It was the Order of the Rising Sun 2nd Class and Hinamori wore it proudly.

"Lieutenant," said a man walking up the corridor. Hinamori, with Hitsugaya's aid, snapped to attention being greeted by two admirals. Rear Admiral Byuten Noguchi were wearing the Order of the Rising Sun 1st Class. Unlike the 2nd Class, 1st Class was pinned to the left side of the chest and had a red and white sash that went over the right shoulder and to the left hip. Next to him was Admiral Mizuryū Chidori, commander of the Federal Navy.

"So you're Lieutenant Hinamori," said the admiral kindly. She was pleased to see brave young women rising in the Navy. It took her years become the highest ranking woman in the Japanese Federal Armed Forces. "You saved one of my carriers and many lives in the Yellow Sea."

Mizuryū removed her officer's cap and bowed low. Hinamori quickly returned the bow and nearly threw Hitsugaya to the floor in the process.

"Y-y-you t-too kind, Admiral," stuttered Hinamori. A naval officer's aide being thanked by the head of Navy was almost enough to make Hinamori wet herself.

Byuten looked at the white-hair Army captain and noticed how closely he was holding her. Inwardly, he smiled. "What unit are you in, Captain?"

"6th Infantry Division," said Hitsugaya proudly. "I command E Company of the 81st Heliborne/Armor Infantry Regiment."

"I see," said Byuten. He didn't really know the Army units well, but figured it was important. "The whole war?"

"Iē, I was there third company CO. They lost their first in Pusan, and their second in Awaji. I was assigned just before they were sent to Shinomoseki and commanded them from Shinomoseki to Kaesŏng."

'Very proud. Well those were tough battles for the Army,' thought Byuten. "Take care of Lieutenant Hinamori. That's an order."

"Don't worry, if I don't I'll answer to someone even more fearsome," said Hitsugaya with a small smirk.

"Who?"

"Her parents."

"Very well, Lieutenant, take care," said Rear Admiral Byuten.

"Sayonara, Lieutenant Hinamori," said Admiral Mizuryū.

"Let's go Momo," said Hitsugaya. He led her outside to a four-door Toyoda in the parking lot and helped her in on the passenger side, which was on the left side (1). He got in on the right side and started the engine.

"If I can make to the 248 in good time, we'll be in Karakura in an hour and a half, maybe two," said Hitsugaya as he exited the base and headed for Inter-Prefectural Expressway-248 that would take them near Sagamihara and he would then take a prefectural highway that followed the Sagami-gawa.

Hinamori flipped through the radio stations. She found local station playing the song Dakishimetai. Hitsugaya ignored the song. He personally wanted to listen to the playoffs for the Kantō District (2) Football League.

They passed a sign that read:

Yagami: 2.1km

Karakura: 19.4km

Inter-Prefectural Expressway-20: 24km

"I've never been to Yagami," said Hinamori. "One of the carrier pilots was from here."

"A few people in my company came from Yagami too. A sergeant and some privates."

"You wanna' stop?" she asked.

"… not today. We have some things to talk about, Momo."

"I think so too."

* * *

**1000 Hours; January 19****th****, 2011; IV Corps Offices, 2****nd**** Army Headquarters; Liaoning Province, People's Republic of China**

"General, there is a man from the Intelligence Bureau to see you," said Captain Shao Wung.

"Show him in," said Lieutenant General Hei Tang. The young 20-year-old man showed in the 41-year-old man. He was dressed in a black suit, not the green military uniform of the People's Liberation Army. "May I be of help, uh?"

"Captain," said the man answering the unasked question. He flashed a badge in the general's face, which was how he got in without his uniform. "I am Captain Wen Shuengying, Special Operations Forces Intelligence Bureau. You can leave now Captain Wung."

"Captain Wung is a highly educated man and is the son of a candidate of the Politburo. I'm sure he can be trusted."

Shuengying eyed the aide. He had checked out Lt. General Tang and his staff. He knew the aide was well versed in Americans and American lifestyle. Perhaps he could be helpful.

"Have you ever heard of a some called Piney Creek?"

"Bù (no)."

Shuengying placed a file on the table. "Meet a very dangerous man in the US's counter-intelligence community."

"This is a Soviet file," said Wung. "This string of numbers means it's from the KGB 1st Directive, their foreign intelligence service. How did-?"

"That is not your concern, nor is it to leave this room. Your Corps while in Korea had some Soviet pilots working for them. This file will be something you picked up from them and will send to the Intelligence Bureau. I cannot admit I met with a Soviet agent to acquire a file the People's Republic may need. You men I think I can trust," said Shuengying.

"He's Japanese?" asked Tang looking at the description of John Saito Shinhachi.

"Shi (yes). Trained with Delta Force in various places. He has been in covert operations in the Balkans and the Caucasus and Afghanistan."

"So he's been terrorizing the Soviets. Eastern Europe, the outer edges of the USSR, and that part of Central Asia are not the People's Army's concern," said Wung.

"He has been working against us. He was sent to destabilize our rear and secure areas during the invasion of Korea and Japan. This man thrives on stirring up chaos and causing communications, command, and auxiliaries to implode. I need this file made available to the entire intelligence service… because I have no idea where he is now," said Shuengying.

Captain Shuengying left the room quickly.

"Is it me, or was there a threat imbedded in his tone if we don't do this?" asked Tang.

"I wouldn't want to find out, sir. I get on it right away."

* * *

**0807 Hours; January 18****th****, 2011; Undisclosed Location**

"Mr. Mardukas, be sure we are properly restocked on fuel for our aircraft. Also have the engineers check on the reactor. I don't want to go back out to sea before the reactor is inspected."

"Aye, ma'am," said Commander Richard Mardukas, the second in command of the Danaan.

"Mr. Kalinlin, are the SEAL teams on leave?" asked Captain Teletha Testarossa

"Aye, ma'am," reported Commander Andrei Kalinin, commander of the spec ops units assigned to the Tuatha de Danaan.

Captain Testarossa played with the end of her braided ponytail as she normally did when she was thinking. She and her two staff officers were on a catwalk that overlooked the USS Tuatha de Danaan as it went through an overhaul. Mardukas and Kalinlin quietly stood at attention like the well-trained officers they were. Mardukas radiating the proud elegance of the Royal Navy submariner he once served and Kalinlin giving off the air of the silent, but elite Red Navy Spetsnaz (3) he once was.

"I have received new orders," she said.

"West Pacific Command?" asked Mardukas.

"Pacific Command," she said. The West Pacific was actually called the West Pacific sub-Command or Regional Command. The United States Pacific Command was the senior command that was in charge of all US forces from Korea to California. USPACFLT (United States Pacific Fleet) was in charge of naval operations and was based in Pearl Harbor Naval Base in Honolulu, Hawaii (4).

"What does the Admiral want?" asked Kalinlin.

"To commend us on our excellence in the war. He says we get three months of down time and to catch up with our paperwork. Then…"

She paused for a while.

"Then we are to report to Norfolk," said Captain Testarossa.

"Norfolk, we're leaving the Pacific?" asked Mardukas. Truthfully, he wasn't too sorry. He was wearing his hat from his on the Trafalgar Class attack submarine HMS Turbulent (S-87).

"Looking forward to going home?" asked Kalinlin, reading Mardukas's mind.

"I have always thought of the Atlantic as my true home. I'm sure there is somewhere in the USSR you always called home."

"Maybe the days when I lectured in the Grechko Naval Academy and educated upcoming officers who hoped to be in the Red Navy Marines and GRU Naval Operators. Before I was reassigned to command units in Bosnia and Kosovo."

"When you left the GRU?" asked Captain Testarossa, she always wondered why he left.

"Yes, when I met a yet Lieutenant Junior. He was Vympel, the most elite agents of the KGB. His name was Sousky Mikhailrovich Seagal. Lt. Seagal was supposed to eliminate key leaders in Kosovo, this was before Kosovo declared independence. He was supposed to stop the 'counter-revolutionaries', but refused."

"…why did you help Petty Officer Sagara leave?" asked Captain Testarossa.

"I'm afraid that is something personal between the two of us. But we came to a point where we could no loner serve the Party."

"I see," said Testarossa, disappointed that Kalinlin wouldn't share the information about how an elite soldier and a highly-trained spy/assassin came to US service. "Well, tell Mr. Sagara that I would like to know the story. If you want to talk, I'll be filling out requests for new parts for the passive sonar."

* * *

**1522 Hours; January 19****th****, 2011; residential area, Karakura; Kanagawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

A tall orange-haired man was walking beside two younger girls of the same age.

One girl was in a blue and white football (soccer) uniform and was dribbling the black and white ball area as she walked. He had black hair that cut just short of her shoulders and a scowl to match the older man next to her.

The other was dressed in a white double-breasted chef's uniform with a red handkerchief tied around her neck. She had honey-brown eye and a pleasant smile in sharp contrast to her companions. She was even humming to herself.

"Karin, watch where you're kicking that ball," said Kurosaki Ichigo.

"Sure, whatever," said Kurosaki Karin, age 14. She kicked the ball, it bounced off a lamppost and nearly struck the brunette. Ichigo reached for the poor girl and pulled her out of the way.

"Karin, you nearly got me," whined Kurosaki Yuzu, age 14 and fraternal twin of Karin. "Arigato, Ichi-nii."

"Whatever," said Ichigo indifferently. He internally smiled. He missed these little moments with his younger sisters.

They reached a small two-story building with a large white sign over the front entrance that read: Kurosaki Clinic.

They walked through a side gate and headed around back. Ichigo opened the front door for his home.

"ICHIGO!!" yelled a man who appeared to have leaped from the ceiling.

"Shut up!" said Ichigo grabbing his father and throwing him into the wall. "Why can't you greet me like a normal man?"

"Ha, my son you been taught well by those Army grunts. Not like the Corps," said Kurosaki Isshin, former Marine and current doctor and owner of the Kurosaki Clinic.

"Army taught me well enough," said Ichigo putting his father in a headlock and squeezing. Karin and Yuzu walked passed them to go about their business. Karin went upstairs to do her homework and Yuzu looked through the refrigerator for dinner.

"You did me proud, son," said Isshin once the two girls were gone.

"Arigato, To-san," said Ichigo releasing his father and heading to his room.

On his desk was a stack of medical books he was studying to get into the best school he could possibly achieve.

"Where have you been?" asked a sharp female voice. A petite woman with shoulder length black hair was sitting on a stack of mattresses in Ichigo's closet. The door was open and she seemed quite content to read the Shoujo manga (5).

"Picking up my sisters from practice and work. Why are you here?" he asked sitting down at his desk and opening a journal on medicine to combat infection and disease.

"You window wasn't locked and I like small spaces," Kuchiki Rukia said.

Ichigo read for the next hour made notes. He made sure he recorded what certain components were intended to do and why. Rukia kept reading her manga.

"I got something for you," Ichigo said after a while.

"Nani?"

"Dōzō (here)," said Ichigo passing his girlfriend a framed piece of paper.

"Ichigo, I don't need a picture fra- … oh my…" Rukia's voice died as she saw a drawing of favorite character from one of Harima Hario's mangas. It was signed 'Harima Hario' and 'Imotō Yakumo'.

"Harima Kenji was in the fire team. Sorry to say, but he's not the sensitive guy you thought he was," said Ichigo with a grin. He was going to dispel all the myths Rukia and the other girls had created around Harima's work. "He was a delinquent. Albeit, is was madly in love with this girl and that's where he started, but he's actually a lot like me and Renji."

"Liar!" declared Rukia.

"I'll take you to meet him. We were planning on meeting anyways. He's over in Yagami so it's not too far," said Ichigo. After a while and a few more pages of notes he said, "Kenji is easily misunderstood. He's awkward, but he is a very well intentioned guy. I think you'll like him and his girlfriend."

Rukia mulled that offer over in her head. "Fine."

A little while later. "Ichigo?"

"Mm?" he said looking up from his work and into her purple eyes.

"I need to get going," she said pulling on a jacket with the 1st Airborne Division's insignia on the back and a private first class insignia on the shoulder (6). He kissed him on the cheek and crawled over his bed to the window. "Orihime-chan and Ishida-kun are wondering if we're busy this weekend."

Ichigo thought for a moment. "Kyō nani desu ka (what is today)?"

"Kayōbi desu (Tuesday)."

"I guess… but I guess you're going to make me," he said narrowing his eyes.

"You know me so well," said Rukia smiling sweetly as she slipped out the window.

* * *

**0957 Hours; January 18****th****, 2011; Natsuyami Residence, Kyoto; Kyoto Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

"Oto-san, Oka-san, everyone, I'd like you meet my fiancée," said a bespectacled young man.

"Hajimemashite. Yūki Tsumugi desu. Dōzo yoroshiku onegaishimasu," said Yūki introducing herself. She nervously fingered the silver band on her left hand as the Natsuyamis looked at her.

"You mean Keisuke isn't gay?" a cousin asked at least. Tsumugi sweat-dropped and one of Keisuke's aunts smacked the kick upside the head.

"It's nice to meet you Tsumugi-chan," said Natsuyami Aya, Keisuke's mother, hugging Yūki.

"So where did you two meet?" asked Natsuyami Daisuke, Keisuke's father.

"We were assigned to the same ship. We were missile technicians on a destroyer and later a cruiser," said Yūki looking around the room. The Natsuyami family ran an inn on the northern side of Kyoto. It was a large traditional style place. If she didn't know any better Yūki would have thought she was trapped in some anime.

"A little thing like her in the Navy?" asked one of the older members of the family.

"We sank a few ships," said Yūki defensively. Truthfully the man looked like he would be old enough to have been in the Imperial Navy during the Pacific War.

"Oto-sama, don't be mean," scolded Daisuke. "You have to excuse him."

"Yeah, Oba-sama, don't scare off Anii-san's girl. Not after he finally got one," said Natsuyami Ryosuke, Keisuke's younger brother. Keisuke hung his head lower and lower at his family's subtile verbal abuse. Yūki tried not to laugh.

Yūki observed Ryosuke. He was sickly thin and still had bruises that were just starting to fade. Ryosuke was shot down by a KPAGF surface-to-air missile over Shikoku while flying paratroopers to their landing zones. He spent months in a prison camp near Namp'o until the prisoner exchange. He was returned towards the middle of December and was released from a hospital two weeks earlier.

"So, Tsumugi-chan," said Daisuke, "when do we meet your family?"

"Oto-chan and Oka-chan would like to meet you with at my hometown around the 29th or so."

"Oi, Daisuke! A tour bus pulled up in front of the inn!" called one of Keisuke's uncles.

"Oh shit, I thought we had another two hours," said Daisuke rising to his feet. "Ryosuke, you still need to rest. Keisuke, come and help when Tsumugi-chan is settles. Tsumugi-chan, is was nice meeting you."

Daisuke and roughly 18 other people dashed out of the room.

"Big family," said Yūki.

"Hai, I think I need to go help. I'll be back," said Keisuke giving his fiancée's hand a squeeze before running out the door.

"So what was it like out at sea?" asked Ryosuke. He looked tired and pale from long-term malnutrition.

"Lonely, but I always had the stars to look at," she said.

"And Anii-san," added Ryosuke.

Yūki looked him in the eyes. "We share a lot of things in common. Truthfully, I think he would have been one of my causal friends, but we grew close."

"It happens," he nodded. "He's not normally that good with people. I was kind of surprised at how well he was talking with you or how much. He's a good man. Some of the other family members are a little worried you're some girl who heard about the inn and taking advantage of him, but I trust Anii-san's judgment. You seem like a nice person."

"Arigato for your confidence, I didn't even know there was an inn like this until we arrived," said Yūki. She was trembling at the prospects of what she was getting into and the commitment she had made. She took a deep breath. This was like a battle, she had to be strong and see it through to the end.

"Welcome to the Natsuyami Clan."

* * *

**0945 Hours; January 20****th****, 2011; National Defense Academy, Yokosuka; Kanagawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

Master Sergeant Takano Akira wandered through the crowd of young Air Force pilots staring open-mouthed at two F-15s flying circles around a squadron of F-4EJ Phantoms in a mock battle. She particularly interested in the pilot flying the Eagle with the number 057 and had close to 30 flags on his plane for each kill.

The two pilots were doing things even the pilots on the Danaan couldn't dream of pulling.

After a few minutes the demonstration was over and they waited for the next group. Takano didn't intend to stay for that and walked over to the hanger area.

She found the pilots of planes 057 and 058. The wingman was finishing a conversation with the senior of the two and waved good-bye after he finished leaving the blue-haired man alone.

"Quite an impressive show, Captain Nara Kentaro," said Takano.

Nara looked around in surprise to see the stoic reddish-purple hair woman approaching him. "Akira… you got my call?"

"Hai, I would love to get some tea," said she.

"You came all this way to say that?" he asked sweat-dropping.

"I was just dropped off at this base from my previous assignment. I was working with Americans. We tried to make your life easier by destroying SAMs and radar," said Takano.

"Arigato," said Nara leaning against his plane. Takano noticed the last two flags weren't North Korean or Chinese. They were red flags with yellow hammers and sickles.

"You shot down those Soviet pilots?"

"Two and damaged four others. They were much better than the PLAAF or KPAF," said Nara remember his last dogfight and the Soviet top guns. "Air combat has a certain chivalry to it. Missiles kinda' take some of the romance out of it, but it's kind of warfare in a field of its own. You learn to respect some of your enemies as much as your own side."

"Covert warfare is the same," said Takano. "But in a darker way… so what was the show for?"

"Lt. Kugashi, my wingman and I were showing new upcoming officers the ropes. Now that the war is over, they offered me a promotion to captain and to give a few demonstrations to flight and squadron leaders hoping to join the Federal Air Force and Federal Naval Air Force in advance air combat tactics," said Nara proudly.

"So you've finally found her place," said Takano. Nara had never looked so strong, confident, or happy. He'd always been ignored and unwanted. Now there were future captains, majors, and colonels looking to him for guidance.

"Thanks to you. You said try to be daring and live for once. That's why I signed onto the Air Force," said Nara.

"Iē, zenzen," responded Takano. The tiniest blush appeared on her cheeks.

"Akira-san, you want to get that tea now? I don't have to do anything else until tomorrow," asked Nara sheepishly.

"I'd like that, Kentaro-kun," she said smiling a little as Nara grabbed his jacket.

"I missed you," said Nara as they walked towards a parked jeep.

"I kept tabs on you during the war," said Takano suddenly. "I wanted to make sure you were alive. I… I didn't want to lose you."

"Me too, but I didn't know how to find you. I always figured you'd find me when it was all over."

"And you were correct in your assessment of the situation. Now, I haven't seen a fresh novel in a while. I kept rereading the ones I had or borrowing some from the others. I'd also want to get into a real tea shop and some real Japanese tea."

"I know a few places around here," said Nara looking down at the jeep.

"You don't have your license, do you?" asked Takano observantly. Nara sweat-dropped and laughed nervously. Takano held out her hand and Nara dropped the keys in them.

"I can fly a plane that costs more than any car on the road at twice the speed the sound, but I don't have a driver's license. Funny, ne, Akira-san?" asked Nara rubbing the back of his head and sweat-dropping.

Takano got in on the right side of the jeep and Nara on the left. She started the engine and they proceeded to the exit. A couple of soldiers were laying salt down to stop the road from freezing over during the night and reports threatened snow the next day.

They found a small tea shop just outside of the city of Yokosuka. It was in a small collection of shops built across the street from a JR East station for daily commuters. They hung up their coats by the door and found an empty table. Takano was dressed in an Army uniform that was olive green and meant to copy the American dress uniform before they switched back to 'union-blue'. Nara was in an Air Force uniform which was a dark sky blue. It wasn't as dark as the navy blue which leaned towards black.

"Still drink tea," commented Takano.

"Stronger teas are almost as good as coffee and don't put me on edge. I learned that from you."

"I'm glad it served you well."

Nara noted that there was a certain softness to her cold purple eyes. Slowly he reached for her hand which was sitting on her knee.

"Akira-san, would you like to see a movie or something this weekend?" Nara asked nervously. Takano was too stunned to speak. After a few seconds she intertwined her fingers with his and nodded.

* * *

**1245 Hours; January 20****th****, 2011; Jupei Shipping and Delivery, Hiroshima; Hiroshima Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

A woman with light brown hair was sitting behind a receptionist desk and eating a bento she had bought from a local mini-mart. The desk had a computer and an office phone. There was a large Hewlett-Packard printer that could also be used a fax, scanner, and copy machine. Also on the desk was a photograph of a squad of soldiers in A-Class formal dress uniforms and proudly holding up their release papers.

"Miho-chan, do you know where Nagato-san is?" asked a man leaning out from a door marked 'Employees Only'.

"He's waiting for ship to come in," said Jupei Miho checking the raster on the computer.

"He's still at the port?"

"The barge out of Uwajima got delayed do to ice on the Hōgo Strait."

The man went back and the door closed automatically by the spring-loaded metal arm. Jupei went back to eating her lunch. In her lap was a practice exam for Hiroshima University, the main high educational facility in the prefecture.

"Miho, do you have the address sheets for my team?" asked Jupei Shinichi, Miho's older brother.

"Nii-san, what would you do if I wasn't here?" sighed Miho as she printed the delivery sheets for city-wide deliveries.

Jupei Shipping and Delivery handled business in western Hiroshima Prefecture, eastern Yamaguchi Prefecture, and southern Shimane Prefecture. The Korean People's Army had taken a number of their trucks. Most had been returned by police officers who used license plates or VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) (7). Many of them had been destroyed in battle and were the unfortunate victims of NATO warplanes. Still, business was booming, particularly with the demand construction equipment and supplies for the reconstruction. Hiroshima had been the sight of several German-Chinese tank skirmishes until the 21st Panzergrenadier Regiment had defeated the 319th Motor-Rifle Division.

Miho was working hard to reorganize the business from her little desk in the entryway. Hiroshima was the home office and her father had asked her to restructure shipping to account for the lost trucks.

Miho looked around. She was quite alone. She slowly lifted the light-pink cotton shirt she was wearing and pealed back her black skirt. The scar was still there from that day when she was hint by fragment from a grenade. Miho was taken to a hospital to be examined and they did say her chances of bearing children were increasing. The scar would mostly fade, but would never be gone.

'Do I really want kids?' she asked herself looking at her reflection in the computer screen. In truth, she wasn't sure, but she damn sure wanted that choice in her hands and not in some statistic.

She looked at the letter she got from her platoon leader. The older awkward man had helped her face the biggest crisis of her life and she wondered what kind of person she would have been if not for him. She was grateful to him.

Miho tossed the empty bento and the disposable chopsticks in the trash and returned to saving the business.

* * *

**1156 Hours; January 18****th****, 2011; Hinata Inn, Hinata; Kawagawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

'I hate Mondays,' thought Urashima as he whacked away at the roof. He missed the days when the day of the week didn't matter because the enemy didn't take the weekends off.

He checked his watch. "Almost noon, eh?"

"Talking to yourself, Urashima?" asked a slightly hostile voice from the laundry deck.

"Ah, Mokoto-chan, taking a break from studying?" asked Urashima seeing the swordmaster. Aoyama Mokoto was dressed in a gi and balancing her katana on her shoulder.

"This helps me think."

"When it's good to not overwork- ahhh!" Urashima tripped and cart-wheeled off the roof and onto the deck and into Mokoto.

"Gomen," Urashima apologized.

"Forget it," said Mokoto flatly. Mokoto had become very tolerant Keitaro. She wasn't hitting him as much or as hard.

"You're jealous of me that I could go and you couldn't, right?"

She gave him a death glare. "It wasn't right for Nee-sama to interfere."

"She did you a favor," Keitaro said seriously. He looked at Mokoto like he had with Pvt. Jupei. "I started off as a corporal. First day of battle was at Pusan and me sergeant died. Sniper."

He walked over to the railing and leaned on it. "I was made sergeant the second day. When we returned to Pusan we took our objectives quickly and dug in. The next day a million North Koreans counter-attacked. I was made platoon leader when our lieutenant was killed by an RPG. I briefly led a platoon in Teagu for a week and was resigned to a different regiment who needed an experienced officer. Everyday we lost good people and probably killed equally good people."

He got up and headed for the stairs. "I'm going to start lunch and then I be clearing the hot springs. Naru doesn't have afternoon classes so she'll be home in the next two hours."

Keitaro headed through the halls and finally reached the kitchen. Maehara Shinobu normally cooked, but she was at school. Shinobu was a third year and would be graduating this spring. Keitaro had taken over most of the cooking so she could study for her exams.

He opened a cabinet and pulled out a few pots. Mokoto generally liked traditional things, which included food. He found some weird thing with an even stranger insignia that appeared to be an eye.

"Kaolla-chan really needs to keep her inventions in her room," Keitaro said to himself. Kaolla Su was the quirky feigner who was probably at class. Kaolla was a year older than Shinobu and was a first year at Tokyo University.

He made lunch. Left some on the table and ate quietly by himself.

Keitaro walked into the open air hot springs. With the hard-bristle broom he started washing off mold and some mossy green stuff that looked like agley. They grew quite contently if something didn't scrub the stone surface regularly.

"Oh-ho, what are you doing here Keitaro-kun?" asked a voice.

"Cleaning," said Keitaro simply to Mitsune Konno, commonly referred to as Kitsune. "Come back later."

He didn't have to look up to know she was only clad in a pink towel. That wasn't important. It seemed so trivial after everything else.

"Oh, Keitaro-kun," said Kitsune wrapping her arms around from behind. "I was wondering-"

"I'll give you an extension, but you're still going to have to pay your rent. Get a job, Kitsune-san, and let go of me," said Keitaro. He didn't have time for this.

"What's going on here?!" demanded Mokoto entering the hot springs.

"Keitaro was feeling me up and saying he would let me slide on the rent if I-"

"Don't you think you've overused that one?" asked Keitaro politely. Mokoto recoil a little at the sudden coldness from behind the glasses. "Kitsune, I'm sure you have job skills, and I mean ones that are legal. You're a very clever woman, devious, but smart enough to do anything you want."

Keitaro finished up and walked around the inn doing various things. Towards the end of the day he returned to his room. He didn't feel much like dinner.

He sat down and lifted his shirt. It had healed where the white phosphorous had struck him, but his belly didn't have any feeling. A final gift from the Korean People's Army. He pulled out his Colt M1911A1 and disassembled it on his heated-table. He started to clean it.

He heard a shift from above and looked up. A woman with long brown hair and large circular-framed glasses was looking down at him. She slid down the hole in his ceiling and sat across from him.

"Shinobu-chan says you won't eat," she said stated.

"Wanted to be alone, Naru."

Narusegawa Naru was three years younger than him and would be 19 this year. He would be during 22. She was an aspiring teacher. Keitaro had thought she would be great with children.

She looked at the Colt .45 in his hand. She had a SIG Sauer P-226 of her own, but hadn't touched it since she got home, nor had she used it. Naru had been in the 2nd Fleet and was on the guided-missile destroyer JFS Chōkai of the Kongō Class which was based off the US Arleigh Burke Class destroyer, complete with Aegis. She remembered seeing the flagship being blown up and her own ship being damaged by a hit from a Chinese destroyer. She had only see people die up close that one day. Keitaro had seen it everyday for months un-end.

"Did you ever use that?" she asked after a while.

"A few times," he said gently, not really wanting to talk about it.

"You have classes tomorrow?"

"Middle Eastern Archeology in the morning and then I'll be back here. Shinobu was complaining about the stove and I think I should check the gas line before she uses it again. I don't need to hear anymore explosions," he said.

"I met some guys in the German Navy. They were from places like Lebanon and Iraq," Naru said trying to stir up a conversation.

"Deutsche Marine," he said.

"Nani?"

"They call it the Deutsche Marine," said Keitaro.

"How many languages have you picked up from traveling with Seta?"

"I learned a bunch in Bosnia and Kosovo. I picked up German from the German soldiers in Kosovo and a little Albanian. Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian in Bosnia. Russian in Chechnya. Arabic in Iraq. Mandarin Chinese and Tibetan Chinese in Tibet. English from Nyamo," he said thoughtfully. He paused for a while and then said, "They were all once so beautiful. Now wars have destroyed them all. Terrorists and Serbian loyalists in Kosovo. Serbian and Croatian Armies destroyed and raped Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Chechnya the Soviets…"

He just couldn't finish. Just remember Bosnia made him want to be sick. Naru reached for the gun he'd finished assembling and took it from him.

"Go to bed, Keitaro."

She climbed up through the hole. Keitaro unrolled his futon and changed into the blue flannel pajamas. He lay down and closed his eyes. He heard screams from a village in Bosnia. He saw a city in burning ruins as Soviet artillery and planes laid-waste to it. People's Arm Police soldier beating down protestors.

"Keitaro?"

Keitaro sat bolt upright and looked around wildly.

"You're having a nightmare again," said Naru who was in her dark-blue pajamas. She was kneeling next to him.

"Again?"

"I can hear you pretty easily through the board I put over the hole," she said shaking her head.

"It's finally getting to me. I can't sleep," he said warily.

"Move over."

"Huh?" Keitaro was quite sure he hadn't heard that.

"Move you idiot!" she practically screamed.

He scooted over and she slid under the sheets next to him.

"Uh, Naru?"

"I can't sleep either with you yelling all night," she stated gruffly as she plopped down on the pillow. "You door locks, right?"

"Hai, I didn't want Kaolla-chan or Kitsune-san barging. It reminded me of those dawn attacks…"

"To go sleep, Keitaro," Naru said gently as she turned her back to him.

He laid back down and closed his eyes. The warm body next to him was comforting. He knew Naru would probably beat him into a comma if he touched her, but this was unnaturally aggressive for her. Smell is the closest sense to memory. Naru's scent filled his nostrils as he drifted off into sleep.

He heard people singing Aegukga (The song of love for the country), national anthem of the Republic of Korea. Older folks shaking his hand for bringing the South Koreans back to Kaesŏng. He heard children playing in the streets. People throwing rocks at pictures of Kim Jong-Il and the propaganda speakers. His platoon laughing as they were told they could go home and singing the Japanese National Anthem, Kimi go Yo:

Kimi go Yo wa (May your reign)

Chiyo ni Yachiyo ni (Continue for a thousand, eight-thousand generations)

Sazare-Ishi no (Until the pebbles)

Iwao to Nari-te (Grow into boulders)

Koke ne Musu made (Lush with moss)

"Naru," he mumbled.

"Nani?" she said equally tired.

"I love you," he said.

Keitaro wasn't sure if she heard him. But it occurred to him that with the war over, he would have many other opportunities to make himself heard.

He couldn't be sure because he was almost asleep, but he thought Naru had moved just a little bit closer to him.

* * *

**1000 Hours; January 18****th****, 2011; Krasnaya Ploshchad, Moscow; Moscow Oblast, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic; Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic**

Krasnaya Ploshchad, or Red Square, was a large and spacious main street which doubled as a parade ground for events. With the Kremlin, Lenin's Mausoleum, Saint Basil's Russian Orthodox Church, Glavnyi Universalnyi Magazin (Main Department Store), State Historical Museum, and the other walls of the Kremlin. The Kremlin and St. Basil's were probably the most recognizable sights. Truthfully, no feigner would probably recognize Moscow other than Red Square.

General-Secretary Josef Ivanovich Penovaski stood at an observation platform with the senior staff of the Soviet Red Armed Forces as soldiers of the Red Army marched passed. With him were Minister of Defense Anatoly Pavelovich Nergetov and Minister of Interior Vladimir Eduardovich Alekseyev.

The Minister of the Committee of State Security, or Komityet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (KGB), was Nikolai Semyonovich Nevsky. Penovaski didn't trust him too much, but it was the deal he had made with the KGB. Penovaski had his loyal friend Colonel-General Andrei Vasilyevich Grishin put in charge of the Glavnoje Razvedyvatel'noje Upravlenije (GRU) and slowly putting tabs on the KGB. Penovaski was a military man and didn't like state spies like the KGB. He trusted soldiers, even if they still were spies, like the GRU to do his work, but the KGB was far more powerful.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs Viktor Grigoryevich Menzhinsky was there too. He was not Penovaski's first choice, but the Politburo choice Menzhinsky and overruled him. He wasn't sure who or why they chose this mindless idiot who was supposed to be the Rodina's face to the West.

Trucks rolled by with trailers. On the trails were short-ranged cruise missiles with nuclear warheads. He was hoping there weren't live munitions or an accident would take out the five most powerful men in the USSR.

The mightily guards motor-rifle divisions sporting the new AK-108s and AN-94s (8) proudly marched from the Moscow River, passed the Kremlin where they saluted their leaders, and out of sight past St. Basil. BMP-3s and T-90s roared by with their commanders in the armor corps black uniforms standing up straight and at attention. Upgraded T-72s and T-80s were also among these units. Next came regular regiments bearing the AK-74m and only had the T-80 as their most recent tank. The T-80 was still good and would be formidable opponent.

Soviet paratroopers marched by with their BMD-3 armor personnel carriers, ASU-57 mobile-artillery, 2S9 mobile-mortars, PT-76 light tanks, and light towed-artillery and mortars. Paratroopers were the Soviet equivalent of the US Marine Corps. The USMC was technically part of the US Navy, but treated like it was a separate service. The Soviet Red Airborne Troops technically part of the Red Army, but treated as separate. The Soviets too had a marine corps, but called them Morskaja Pjechota (Naval Infantry) and were part of the Red Navy.

A group of Tu-95s flew over head trailing massive Soviet flags behind them. MiG-29s streaked by doing some acrobatics much to the pleasure of the crowd below.

Sailors in full dress uniforms which was a white jacket with a blue sailor's collar, a white and blue striped shirt underneath, black pants, and a white sailor cap with a black rim and a red star on front.

This parade was to mark Penovaski officially being made General-Secretary of the Communist Party. It also was a chance for the service branches to attract men and women to them when they turned 18 and would have to serve their two mandatory years.

He looked towards the box designated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for non-Soviet journalists. Crews and reports from BBC World News, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, Deutsche Welle (German Wave), Euronews, France 24, and Al Jazeera Mubasher. He held up a hand in acknowledgement and smiled a little towards them. This would be the real challenge to him that threatened to undo everything. Getting the West to like and trust him. He would have to appeal to the Americans. If he could get the British, Germans, Italians, and French, the nations with the four largest amount of members in the European Union Parliament, he could probably get the rest of the EU to open up to the Soviet Union. If the US and EU trust them the rest of NATO would too.

It would all rest on the next year and making a good impression of the west.

* * *

**0900 Hours; January 19****th****, 2011; Oval Office, White House; Washington DC (District of Colombia), United States of America**

(Conversations in this segment are in English)

It occurs to US President Michelle Smith Crane that this time next year would be the Iowa Caucuses and the start of the 2012 US Presidential Election. What had she accomplished?

"Fixing our diplomatic stance," she muttered to herself. That had been no easy task after her predecessor. She had worked very hard to reestablish the Europeans trust. The British and Germans seemed to willing to do America favors again. The Spanish and some others who her predecessor had alienated somewhat were now willing to listen to her.

She even had made some friends in the Islamic world which America had lacked for some time, even if it was limited to Republic of Kurdistan and the new King of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. She also had decent relations with Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

Iraq still hated them and probably was intensified thanks to that fiasco. She knew Iran wasn't willing to be friends with the West or any friend of Israel. Syria was probably no friend of hers. Lebanon didn't like American's stance with Israel. The hard part was that many of the Middle Eastern nations were very conservative and were not willing to do business with a woman.

Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea were probably as close to the United States as they had ever been. China hated them, but she was willing to live with that. North Korea hated them, but that wasn't anything new.

What about home?

She hadn't made a national health care system. It seemed impossible. It would require them to dismantle and completely restructure the entire medical system and bring it under more federal authority than anyone could imagine. It would require money they didn't have. Truthfully, she thought health care should be put more to the states responsibility.

The economy?

It was working and growing again. US steel was making a comeback and she was sending bills to congress to review to keep businesses in America and to create new taxes on imports from developed countries to be determined upon by a Senate committee and the Department of State. Aircraft companies were forces to return to America or moved to Central America and not do business in China with the embargo.

National defense and armed forces?

Neither had her priority. She thought if they had fewer enemies and they would not need to worry that much about terrorists or foreign invaders. Still she learned it was something she couldn't completely ignore.

Global warming and the environment?

Hire fuel standards had been something she forces through the House and the Senate very early in her presidency. Upgrading and overhauling the nuclear power plants was a step to remove the need for coal and oil plants. Her national enemy policy was still in the works, but she could never seem to come up with something that would work… or that Congress would pass.

What would happen in 2012? Would she serve only one term? Would the voters still love her like they did now? She never thought she would actually make it as president and November 2008 had been as much a surprise to her as to the whole world.

"Roughly 22 months to go. That's a lot of time to mess up," she said aloud.

Her phone beep and her secretary voice came on, "Mrs. Crane, there is a call for you from Mr. Spinoza."

"Thank you, Marcy. Put him through."

Secretary of State Nicolas Spinoza waiting for a report from US Embassy in Moscow and was to set a meeting date with the new leader of American's biggest military rival.

* * *

**1015 Hours; January 19****th****, 2011; US West Pacific Command, Yokohama; Kanagawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

"Ladies and gentlemen of the West Pacific, I want to thank you for this warm farewell," said General Michael O'Grady, commander of the West Pacific Group. He was being transferred to take command of United States Army Pacific Command in Hawaii. He would be in charge of all US Army forces in the Pacific.

"The one time I take charge in a real shooting war and they decide my ass is worth promoting," he joked to some laughs. "Still, you all worked well in time of crisis and I will remember your hard work while I'm in Hawaii."

"You mean when you're not sunbathing, right?" asked Admiral Samuel Benson had would be taking charge of the West Pacific Group. That got a bigger laugh at the idea of the man in his mid-50s on a beach near Ft. Shafter and catching from sun.

"Very funny, Sam. I'll have to remember that one too."

"Hey, you'll be in USARPAC. I'll worry about Pacific Fleet Command."

"Thank care of Brad," he said quietly.

"He can take care of himself, Mike. But I'll make sure he doesn't get buried in paperwork," assured Benson.

They looked over to Bradley Newsome who was speaking with General Kugashi Toshi, Chief of the Japanese Federal Army. Newsome for his excellence in Korea was handed a forth general's star, making him a full-fledged general. He would be taking charge of US Army units in the West Pacific.

"Mike," said an Asian man walking up to him. "As we say, 'ganbatte'."

"Thanks, Jin," said O'Grady bowing to General Kobayashi Jin, Chief of Staff of the Japanese Federal Armed Forces. Kobayashi returned the bow. "I see your Army commander is getting to know Newsome."

"Yes. Kugashi wants to know who he'll be dealing with in the future."

"Brad did a good job in Korea with you guy, Honnoji. Sam knows your people pretty well after all these years in the in charge of the 7th Fleet. The West Pacific Command will be in good hands."

Kobayashi nodded. He was going to miss his American friend. "Be sure to join us on the 24th when we commission our battleship JFS Meiji at Yokosuka."

"When do the others get to be commissioned?" asked Benson joining the conversation and as a sailor he was naturally curious about the release of the warships.

"The 3rd Fleet's JFS Taishō will be commissioned on the 27th. The 2nd Fleet's JFS Shōwa will be commissioned on the 31st."

"I look forward to that."

* * *

**1230 Hours; January 21****st****, 2010; Matsuri Chinese Restaurant, Yagami; Kanagawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

(We return to conversations being conducted in Japanese. Unless underlined.)

"We should do a gig together again," said Sagano Megumi enthusiastically.

"We, Yūki-chan is visiting her fiancée's family so we may have to hold off on that," said Fuyuki Takeichi. "Besides, when was the last time you played that bass of yours?"

"When was the last time you played your drums?"

"Didn't exactly fit inside a Type 90," he said rolling his eyes.

"What division were you in?" asked Ichijou Karen, who had been the lead singer their there band. Karasuma Ooji was staring blankly into space devoid of any expression. He was the guitarist in their high school band.

"5th Armor. We got cut off from the supply lines. US bombers sure did a number on the commies. Those Thunderbolts ripped up those tanks like they were made of paper," he said shaking his head.

Sagano rolled her eyes.

"You're just pissed because the Navy missed out on all the fun."

"Hey, we were there," said Ichijou, the marine.

"Here your orders," said Asou Yuuya picking up glasses from a tray he was balancing in one hand. His older brother Hiroyoshi was out picking up something for the restaurant. Sarah was by the door waiting to greet incoming customers.

"Sankyu (9)," said Sagano taking her soda and passing him a 100-en tip which was a little much for a drink that cost 150-en, but Yuuya was related to Hiroyoshi that accorded him a certain status among the Yagami High School Graduating Class of 2010.

"So you never had a chance to practice on that big flattop?" asked Ichijou.

"Even if I had, my quarters got water damage from the sprinkler system," defended Sagano. She had lost a few of her belongings because they were drenched. Of course by then she learned not to bring everything she wasn't prepared to lose onto a ship, especially something as large and obvious a target as an aircraft carrier.

"Well, I talk to Tsumugi-chan when I see her on the 31st."

"Why?" asked Fuyuki.

"We're having a big ceremony for the flagship Shōwa setting sail. The entire 2nd Fleet is supposed to be at Sasebo. I hear the Empire is going to show up," she said excitedly. It was rumored that because the three new capitol ships were named after Japan's last three emperors, the current emperor was going to be at the commissioning ceremonies.

"I'd like to see that," said Ichijou.

"You probably you will at one of them, marines are in the Navy," said Fuyuki. "I'm sure it will be cool, but I don't think I can go."

"I think I could get us rides," said Karasuma. They all jumped. Karasuma rarely spoke and when he wasn't doing anything weird it was easy to forget he was there.

"Irasshaimase (welcome; formal)," said Sarah to the new arrivals. "Ah, Ōtsuka-sempai, how are you?"

"Good. Table for-"

"Oi, Mai-chan! Over here!" called Sagano.

"I guess we'll join them," she said.

Sarah pulled up three extra chairs for Ōtsuka and her guests.

"This is Private Arisawa Tatsuki and her boyfriend," said Ōtsuka. "She was in made platoon."

"Where are you visiting from?" asked Fuyuki looking up at the spiky-haired woman.

"Karakura, so is Renji," she said indicating the man with bizarre tattoos and long red-hair.

Renji was looking around curiously and noticed a news clip that was framed and hanging on the wall. "This is my squad."

"You know, Hiroyoshi-kun?" asked Sarah.

"Well, I knew him as Staff Sergeant Asou, but I knew him… are you Sarah?"

"Hai, I didn't know he mentioned me," Sarash said embarrassed.

"Not often. Mostly it was Kenji and Haruki who said who you were. Any of them around?" he asked.

"I haven't seen Harima-sempai or Hanai-sempai lately. They're normally at El Café this time of day anyways. Hiroyoshi-kun works here though, he'll be back soon."

"Nii-san just walked in the back," said Yuuya.

Hiroyoshi was shedding his coat and brushing snow out of his hair. "Damn, the roads are a mess out there- … Abarai?"

"Sir," said Abarai saluting him.

"Harassing me outside of the Army, eh?" he asked sarcastically.

"I missed you too, sir," grinned Abarai. "Ichigo and Uryu say hi. So does Lieutenant Matsumoto. I haven't seen the Captain lately, but he's somewhere with Momo-chan."

"They aren't here? And who's Momo?"

"Some guys are planning a company reunion. And she's the Captain's best fiend of 14 years and girlfriend as of 3 days ago."

"Company? All of Echo Company?" asked Hiroyoshi sweat-dropping.

"Well, almost all of them live in the Kantō District. Most actually live in Kanagawa. Only like eight people, including Miho, live outside Kantō." Jupei Miho was in the Hiroshima Prefecture which was part of the Chūgoku District (10).

"Doesn't sound like fun, ne?" asked Sarah.

"A pain, but I can only imagine the trouble you idiots would get in if I wasn't there," said Hiroyoshi. He smirked and Abarai nodded.

* * *

**0700 Hours; January 21****st****, 2011; Ikuro Residence, Yokohama; Kanagawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

"Eat up, Miyu," said Ikuro Megumi. She looked down at her daughter. Miyu had been very quiet. She hadn't been this quiet since Megumi had divorced Miyu's father.

Ikuro eat her oatmeal and glanced at the news showing some big parade of that had taken place in Russia a few days ago.

"Something wrong, Miyu?"

"The Russians, Mama," she said slowly. "We were trained by both ours and American instructors. The Americans were mostly teaching us things that were meant to fight the Russians."

Megumi nodded. Her daughter who had always been shy and reserved. The Army had changed that, but Miyu had returned to her old self shortly after coming home.

They watched the news for about an hour.

"It's 8:00, I need to go to work," said Megumi getting up. "You're going to meet some friends today, right?"

"Hai."

"That's good. Have fun."

"Mama?"

"Hai?"

"Would you like to meet my brothers and sisters in arms this Sunday?"

Miyu didn't ask for much most of time and Megumi was curious to meet the three people she had commanded and other squad members. "Of course."

"Can you get off from work?" Miyu asked knowing that would be the hard part.

"It's my business. I'd like to see them stop me," she grinned. She smiled at the way her daughter's face lit up as she walked out of the condo and headed for the elevator.

Miyu took a quick shower and changed into a pair of jeans and a blue T-shirt. She put a light-green sweater. As she headed for the door she grabbed a brown coat, blue scarf, and a wool cap.

Miyu took the elevator down to the ground floor and walked through the lobby and waved to the old man who worked as the doorman. She walked to the nearby JR East station.

She pulled out her rail pass for the city commuter trains and took a train to Kikuna Station where she boarded a train on the Yokohama Line bound for Tokyo. She had which trains a few more times until she reached the international district of Tokyo.

"Oi, Ikuro," called Amakasu Noriyori. He was followed by Tsutsui Junkei, Kitsumori Kazu, and Toyotomi Katase.

"Hey," she said walking towards them. She was happy to see them.

"You know where you're going?"

"It's up ahead."

They walked down the street until they found a pub with a sign suspended from a chain. On the sign was shamrock and in English it said: Taste of Dublin.

It was barely lunch and people in the pub were drinking and smoking and singing.

"Whack fol the dah now dance to yer around the flute yur trotters shake

Wasn't it what I told you? Lots of fun at Finnegan's Wake!"

Ikuro didn't understand English, nor did she understand the heavy Irish accents the five people at the bar were singing in.

"What are they singing?" asked Toyotomi.

"Finnegan's Wake," said a voice behind them. Fujiwara Fiona was approaching them. She wore wool sweater and a long wool skirt. Her dark-red hair was swinging freely. "Glad you guys could make it."

"Oi, Fi. Who ya' friends?" asked one of the men.

"Ther' me squad mate from dah Army, Mr. O'Donnell," said Fujiwara. She had dropped her accent when she was teaching Harima English, but among these men she knew they would prefer hearing it.

"Ah, well, welcome to dah Taste o' Dublin," O'Donnell greeted and holding out his hand.

"Ah, domo," said Miyu not understand the words, but recognizing the gesture.

"Can we get you anything?" asked the woman behind the bar. She had the same eyes and hair color as Fiona.

"Uh, we haven't eaten," said Tsutsui politely.

"I think we can get you something," said Fujiwara Molly walking towards the kitchen.

"Oi, Fiona, show yur mates some good ol' Celtic ditty," said one of the other men.

"Mr. O'Bryan, I'm sur' me friends would like to he'r somethin' else-"

"Come on, you promise us anywa'," he said.

"Nani?" asked Kitsumori.

"They want her to sing something," said Molly returning with cornbeef sandwiches.

"Well, you did promise," Molly said to her daughter.

"Aye, mum, that I did," agreed Fiona.

Fiona took a deep breath and tried to recall a song. Celtic was a language only commonly spoken in a small part of France, Wales, and small parts of Ireland. A number of Scotts and Irish and even some English still knew the language. She thought of one that came from the Gaulish, the French-Celts. It was a little different from the Gaelic, the old Irish language before the English invaded.

Gortozet 'm eus, gortozet pell (I was waiting, waiting for a long time)

skeud teñval tourioù gell (In the dark shadow of grey towers)

E skeud teñval an tourioù glav (In the dark shadow of rain towers)  
C'hwi am gwelo ' c'hortoz atav (You will see me waiting forever)

Un deiz a vo ' teuio en-dro (One day it will come back)

Dreist ar morioù, dreist ar maezioù (Over the seas, over the lands)

Dreist ar maezioù, dreist ar morioù (Over the lands, over the seas)

D'am laerezh war an treujoù (To steal me on the trunks)

'Teuio en-dro karget a fru (It will come back full of spray  
E skeud te4val an tourioù du (In the dark shadow of the black towers)

'Teuio en-dro an avel c'hlas (Will come back the blue wind)

Da analañ va c'halon c'hloaz't (To breathe my wounded heart)

Kaset e vin diouzh e anal (I will be pulled away by its blow)  
Pell gant ar red en ur vro all (Far away by its stream to another land)

Kaset e vin diouzh e alan (I will be pulled away by its breath)

Pell gant ar red, hervez 'deus c'hoant (Far away by its stream, wherever it wants)

Hervez 'deus c'hoant pell eus ar bed (Wherever it wants, far away from this world)  
Etre ar mor hag ar stered (Between the sea and the stars)

She sang in a soft slow husky voice that gently caressed the words in some language that most of the 14 people in the room didn't understand, but listened to in awe. (11)

It was a few second before people recovered and began to applaud.

* * *

**1710 Hours; January 22****nd****, 2011; Shinhachi Compound, Kirkland; Washington State, United States of America**

Jack was watching the snow fall. The Puget Sound and Seattle regions didn't get as much snow as people would think since it was so close to Canada. The Canadian boarder was only a few hours drive away.

It snowed in Seattle much like it rained. It was constant, but light. Places like Chicago and Buffalo got nasty blizzards from the cold weather from Canada hitting the Great Lakes, but here they were surrounded by mountains.

He was dressed in a pair of jeans and a white shirt with a dark-blue haori over it. It didn't seem appropriate clothing for standing on the porch in the open air, but Jack liked the cold.

"Jack, you're going to get a cold," said Edward Robert Shiratori, Jack's brother-in-law.

"I'll be in a minute, Eddie. How's the next book coming?"

"Just editing, I'll just need to find a publisher."

"Well good luck," said Jack watching his brother-in-law retreat into the house. Eddie was a nice guy, but Jack suspected his sister had sent him out. Kathleen Shinhachi Shiratori, was very protective of him. It was a wonder that Emma had managed to get permission to come near him by his sister. Still, Jack admired and looked up to Kathy. His parents had been distant, but she had always been close.

"Uncle Jack," said a small voice. He looked around to see his niece Jennifer Erika Shinhachi. She was small and thin for a 4-year-old with black hair and extremely-dark brown eyes that most of the Shinhachi Clan had. "Aren't you cold?"

"Does Nee-san want me to come inside?" he asked in Japanese.

"Oka-chan and Emma-chan say they will pay me a dollar if I get you back inside," said Jennifer.

'Great, not only does my sister tolerate Emma, now she's in cahoots with my girlfriend.'

He padded his niece on the head and headed back inside.

"It's getting to where a man can't enjoy a little cold weather, eh?" grumbled in Russian. He would sometimes ask rhetorical questions in languages he knew others wouldn't speak.

He headed upstairs. Jason was probably with Ginny. That was one of Emma and her friends' ideas. He wasn't sure how they would go since Emma was not the best matchmaker. Maybe the guy Maya had been set up with for Friday would go better.

"Back inside?" asked Kathy in Japanese. She was small and beautiful. Jack liked to tease her that he could easily rest his chin on top of her head. She was smart, confident, and radiated a presence that she take the world by storm single-handedly on a mere whim. She was Jack's personal true hero.

"Nee-san, I happen to like the cold," he said almost childishly. Jack had always been stoic, sarcastic, and intelligent. He only acted this way with Kathy and Emma, sometimes with Jason and Maya, but it was more he was mocking them.

"Jack-kun, don't talk to me like that."

"You could've asked me yourself."

"… touché," she conceded. They glared at each other furiously into the others eyes. Their faces slowly cracked into smiles and they broke out laughing.

"It's Eddies turn to make dinner, right?" he asked after he regained control of his laughter.

"Hai, I'll call you when it's ready."

He headed to the stairs to the third floor where he resided. He reached his office and opened the door.

"Don't you ever go home these days?" he asked in German to the pretty brunette who was working on a manga.

"Ja, but I like your office. It's soundproofed," Emma Hannah Heckler in German.

"It's also bulletproof. This building may look like a traditional Japanese building, but an RPG-7 would have a hard time penetrating some parts."

"Ja, und (and) I found a number of weapons," she said holding the Glock P-17 he hid under the desk she was using. "Couldn't you at least use a USP 9mm. We make a really nice compact you can conceal much better."

He sighed and sat behind his desk. Emma had made herself at home shortly after he got home in early December. He had even dug a desk out of the attic for her and set it up in his office. She had to leave when he was on the phone with certain people, but Emma strangely had a high security clearance. He wasn't sure from where it came, but it didn't originate in the US. Naturally he suspected Germany since Emma was from family that owned a German weapons production company, but they weren't sharing. So much for his German friends. Arms dealers were sometimes given higher clearance than normal civilians… we had ways of finding out and that wasn't his highest priority right now.

"You can give Jennifer her dollar," he said turning on his laptop on his desk.

"She told you?"

"She does love her uncle," he said smirking.

Emma pouted and stuck out her tongue. "Kathy und I were worry about you."

"Danke (Thanks you)," he said longing in to the CIFA database.

"Bitte sehr," she said shrugging. Emma spent a lot of her time here and was even now sharing a room with him. Of course his parents were giving him the 'you-know-this-means-you-have-to-marry-this-girl' look. That would make Emma the first non-Japanese person in the whole Shinhachi Clan since his Aunt Kimiko, his mother's sister, married a man named Hispanic man named David Solomon and had a daughter. Maya Solomon did not live with the Shinhachi Clan, but she was welcome and did stop by often.

He looked over at Emma. She would be part of the family one day. It wasn't their choice of 'if' anymore, but they still got to choose when. Something they would decide upon when they were good and ready.

* * *

**1813 Hours; January 21****st****, 2011; Ch'okan Police Station, Ch'okan; Kaesŏng Province, Republic of Korea**

Cadet Yong Namjeon entered the small police station with his senior officer. The older was from Incheon and was transferred here to help train the 12 cadets, including Namjeon, to be a law enforcement officer for the Republic.

Namjeon no longer wore his old green uniform. He now had a nice new blue uniform that was in much better condition and made of better materials than his old one.

"Good work today, Yong. A few more months of on the job training and you'll be ready to be a real police officer," said the older man from Incheon.

"Gamsa hamnida (thank you), sir," said Namjeon as he placed his gun in his locker. It was a Beretta M92, a police version of the military M9. He was now permitted to carry a gun which was new to him, but like all police officers he was required to leave the department issued gun at work.

He exited the station and walked down the main street.

Ch'okan had changed since the Japanese and South Koreans came. The Japanese were long gone though. Sometimes military convoys passed through the town, but military presence was kept small.

The highway that was once empty of traffic, other than a few buses and trucks, was more crowded. It was not as bustling as other cities in South Korea. Namjeon had visited his cousin briefly in Pusan. He'd never been very far from home and the high speed express train had scared him a little. Nor had he seen so many foreigners. Pusan had ships from all over the world. Some had come from Japan or Taiwan which weren't very far. Some were from as far away as Norway. His cousin lived a much higher quality of life than middle-ranked State employees or even some of the senior military officers.

A car drove passed him. Nobody in Ch'okan had owned a private car. It was against the law in North Korean, and countries like Russia and China. Only one guy had a State-issued car, but never had gas for it because the State had rationed it for the war. He looked up at the roof of one of the apartment buildings. A cell phone antenna had been built up there… or at least that's what he was told by the workers who put it up.

It was so overwhelming to the residences. Internet, cell phones, cars, computers, TV shows that weren't propaganda, and so much more new and strange to him. Still, despite the new and slightly intimidating choices that the people of the new Kaesŏng Province, no one complained about the wide variety of jobs suddenly available. In fact people from businesses across the RoK had charged in like a second invasion force and started recruiting people for new factories. Construction was also a booming business as cities were being rebuilt across South Korea from battles.

Namjeon reached his home. He entered the apartment and walked upstairs. An elevator was being installed, but wasn't operating yet. South Korean government works said the apartments in the Kaesŏng Province did not meet standards of quality of life. That had been shocking to him that this place was considered so inferior to ones like it in Seoul or Incheon, it was actually thought to be criminal.

He unlocked his apartment. A was there. Hanging around her neck was a security badge for a television station that was set up in the city of Kaesŏng.

"Joh-eun jeonyeok imnida (good evening), Jong," said Yong to Jong Namjeon, his wife as of a month.

"Your late, Yong," she said sitting at the kitchen table and watching the small TV set they recently bought.

"Joesong-hamnida (sorry)," he said. Jong was enjoying a soap opera which the South Koreans were fairly well known for in Asian.

"Well, I guess your not the only one who is late," she admitted.

"Mm?" he said half-listening.

"I'm late."

Yong checked his watch. "You normally get home before me so I wouldn't-"

"You don't understand," she said looking down towards her…

Yong's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "… how long…?"

"A week. They make these tests you can buy in convenience stores they just opened in Kaesŏng," she said. "A woman from Seoul told me my throwing up might be… well…"

Yong nodded. He alone was making more money than both combined before Ch'okan was made part of the South. Between the two of them they would be fine. He took his wife's hand and thought about the future. He was helping secure a future for new generations while his wife was helping bring in the technology available to million people who lived in the Kaesŏng Province.

"What should we name our child?" asked Jong.

He thought for a moment and recalled something from two months ago.

"Kuchiki," he said. Neither of them had forgotten the short Japanese soldier with a name tag that read: PFC Kuchiki, R. The one who disabled the speakers and struck the first visible blow to the State, in their hometown, that was now no loner part of their lives.

"I like it," she said with a smile. "Are you hoping for a boy or girl?"

"I don't care, Jong. Either war, our child will be free and happy."

To them who grew up under the regime so-called Democratic People's Republic of Korea, that was all that mattered.

* * *

**1259 Hours; January 21****st****, 2011; European Union Assembly, Brussels; Brussels Capital Region, Kingdom of Belgium**

"So did the Amis (12) meet with the ambassadors?" asked Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Anne Strömvall.

"Far as I know, Michelle spoke to me the other day and sounded cautiously optimistic," said Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Donald Hackett.

"I think you two put too much trust in the Americans. We should speak with the Soviet Foreign Minister ourselves," snorted President of the French Republic, Francis Marquis.

"I'm inclined to agree," said President of the Kingdom of Spain, José Castillo.

"You don't trust Frau (Mrs.) Crane?" asked Chancellor Strömvall.

"No, I have more faith in her than Mr. Bush, but I think it would be wise to speak with the Soviet's Foreign Minister."

"Why? It's my understanding he's an empty-headed poppet. Did you not hear his speech last week? Not an original thought in the man's head," said President of the Republic of Italy, Antonio Berlusconi. "I think our efforts would be better spent speaking directly with the Premier."

"Mr. Penovaski must share you feelings because he expressed an interest in visiting our little Kingdom," said Kingdom of Belgium President, Marie Poncelet.

"If he wants to pursue peace he'll have to, as the Yanks say: play ball with us," said Prime Minister Hackett. All the leaders of the respected nations that had gathered in the room knew that NATO was not a political entity, but its members did tend to make political decisions based around the alliance or its members. No matter how powerful the United States were, the majority of NATO were also members of the European Union. In fact, only four nations in NATO were outside of the EU: the Republic of Turkey, the Commonwealth of Canada (13), United States of America, and the Federation of Japan.

The European Union was easily the most organized and most effective international coalition of its kind. It had created a uniform currency for its members and linked their economies together. This made trade easy under the EU's treaties because crossing boarders was like crossing a state boarder in the US… provided you have a valid passport from an EU member state. It set policies for its members and gave Western and Central Europe a very united voice that could not be ignored, even by the USA and USSR.

General-Secretary Penovaski would have to deal with the EU just as much as the US and they knew it.

"Now on to new business, about trade with Asia. We signed that embargo with the Americans against China. Do we consider Taiwan part of China?" asked Hackett. Taiwan had a very odd independence that a lot of people had trouble understanding.

"I think it would be alright to trade with them. They don't do much business with the Chinese anyways," said Berlusconi. "What about sending aid to South Korea?"

"The Japanese and Americans are way ahead of us. Next order of business?" asked Kingdom of the Netherlands Prime Minister, Peter van Halsema.

"Kosovo," said Republic of Austria President, Erich von Ostmark. "They and the Albanians are going to be members soon. Turkey is also renewing their request for membership."

Leaders sighed. It would take months to work it all out. Kosovo's membership was a project in the works years before it had even declared its independence. Albania had cleaned up its act lately and was probably going to get membership this year with Kosovo. Turkey's relationship with Armenia and Kurdistan were the only things keeping them out of the EU at this time, though they had done a great job mediating talks between the Palestinians and Israelis.

With NATO no longer at war, the EU had to go back to its old headaches.

* * *

**1600 Hours; January 22****nd****, 2011; Sagara Residence, Tokyo; Tokyo Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

Chidori Kaname wrinkled her noise at the smell of gun oil and gunpowder that lingered in Sagara Sousuke's apartment. She hadn't known what it was before, but knew now.

Chidori had spent the war in an office in Tokyo. She had been in the administrative sector. For months she'd done what she once did at school, help run the place and make sure people were doing their jobs.

She wasn't sure what Sagara had done, but knew he hadn't been in the Japanese military. She had checked and never found his name on active duty or reserve lists.

Chidori tied her long blue hair back and started to help Sagara who was cleaning his small apartment.

Opening a box in a closet she found a uniform.

"Oi, Sousuke, you were in the Federal Navy?" she asked holding up the dark navy-blue winter uniform.

"Iē, not the Federal Navy," he said showing her the collar which had an anchor with a gold set of wings coming from it and on the anchor in silver: USN. There was also a gold eagle holding an old flint-lock pistol and trident. "American Navy?"

"SEALs," he said in his monotone.

He went back to clean out his refrigerator and tossing out the food that had gone bed during his absence, which was nearly all of it. Chidori sighed, Sagara was not much of a conversationalist.

Tucked away in the corner of his closet was a box that looked like it hadn't been opened in years. Curious, she opened it and found a badge. It was red and gold with "Вымпел" (Vympel) across it. There were a few other words on the side in the strange writing that was not anything said recognized. She opened the little leather wallet-like case and revealed a second badge with "КГБ" (KGB) and a hammer and sickle on it. With the badge was an ID card with a younger Sagara Sousuke on it. She couldn't read any of it though.

"Forget I still had that."

Chidori screamed. She hadn't heard Sagara come up behind her.

"What is this?" she asked. "What does it say?"

He pointed to the first line. "Name: Sousky Mikhailrovich Seagal. Rank: Lieutenant Junior. Directorate: First. Serial Number: KAI-13141-BU-91. It was my old ID badge before I lived in Japan."

"Where did you live?" asked Chidori once again reminded how little she knew about Sagara. He didn't answer for a while and but merely looked through the box which had a green uniform with the Soviet flag. There was also a PMM handgun and an AK-108 assault rifle.

"You were a Russian?"

He shook his head. "If I'd been born a Greater Russian, I might have stayed, but I was half-Ainu, half-Slav (14). Never really belong in the Rodina, nor here for that matter."

He pulled out an old black-and-white photograph with a family of five. Looking over his shoulder Chidori recognized Sagara… or Seagal. He didn't look a day past six. The two oldest people were clearly his parents dressed in modest clothing. It looked warm, but a little shabby. The next oldest person looked like he was 12 and the youngest looked like she was four.

"Mikhail Ivanovich Seagal, Hatya Marakov Seagal, Pavel Mikhailrovich Seagal, Nina Marakov Seagal," he said pointing to each of the four unnamed people. "Mother's parents were Ainu and she was deported with Nina. Father for intermixing with the Ainu was branded a traitor. Pavel, or Pasha as I called, and I were sent to a State orphanage to be reeducated and raised as good Russians."

"Where are they?" Chidori asked hesitantly.

"Mother must have changed her and Nina's names, because in the years I've been here I haven't located them. Pasha deserted the KGB a little before me."

"Your father?"

Sagara looked deep into Chidori's eyes and a slight sadness that appeared answered her question. "He died in a Gulag."

He closed the box and stuffed it back in the corner out of sight.

"That's why you left?"

He had his back to her. "The motto of the Rodina is 'Workers of the world, unite!' My father thought that was true and married a woman who wasn't Slavic. The Party said that wasn't right and put him in a force-labor camp until he dropped dead of exhaustion. The Marxist-Socialist Revolution and the Communist Party was supposed to make the Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik the perfect place.

In actuality it is corrupt. It destroys those who don't belong."

He was quiet for a while longer.

"Pasha told me one day that father had died. He also had stolen locations of sleeper cells in Germany. He said he was going to give it to the Germans and get asylum from them. He told me that with two traitors in the family, they would come for me next and that I should run."

"What did you do?" asked Chidori. This was like some action movie, but real and clearly a secret that had burdened Sagara for years.

"I was in Afghanistan a few months before and knew safe houses locations in Kabul. By that time I was in Serbia and had information on KGB plans to take out Kosovar leaders. Problem was that KGB and GRU were both looking to get me by then and were prepared to kill me to silence me. A GRU agent found me… but Comrade Colonel Kalinlin helped me escape into Bosnia & Herzegovina and run until we were picked up by Americans. They didn't know what became of Pasha."

"But…" and he looked at her with a slight smile. "I like to think Pasha is like me in hiding in Germany. And that mother and Nina are in Japan. I like to think one day they will find me or I them."

Chidori smiled. "I like that, it's nice."

"Arigato. So what was it like on the other side?"

"Nani?" asked a confused Chidori. She didn't understand the question.

"The other side. America. You were born in New York, right? I want to know what it was like there."

Chidori started what seemed like a long and boring story that was not as drama or action packed as Sagara's story. But she got into it as she started to notice that Sagara was watching her with wrapped attention as though she was describing a different galaxy to him. They didn't even notice they weren't cleaning the apartment for hours.

* * *

**0915 Hours; January 22****nd****, 2011; Yagami Northern Cemetery, Yagami; Kanagawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

Japanese cemeteries like most of Japan were cramped. Shintos cremated bodies like Buddhists and Hindus which was good because Japan didn't have land space for whole bodies. Burning the bodies also helped prevent diseases that had plagued Europe in the Dark Ages.

Often, families owned a single grave marker that bore the family name and family members' names would be added.

A small group proceeded into the grounds. Normally people would take a bucket of water from one of the shrine's fountains and spread it over the grave they were visiting, but late-January was too cold. The priestess and her trainees had cleared the snow from the walkway and even salted it to breakup and melt ice.

Despite this, the people treaded carefully knowing only a small patch of ice was all they needed to fall and break a bone.

"Did we pass it?" asked a boy of around 11. He had short brown hair and black eyes like two of the others.

"Iē, this is it right here," said a young man of 19 brushing snow off a grave that said: Harima Clan. Working their way down the names on the stone until he found the one he was looking for.

Harima Hiroki

November 13th, 1961 - January 22nd, 2000

"Hiro," whispered Kaori to the grave. "Kenji's back home. He's safe and doing great. He lives with his girlfriend and her sister. He also brought Mai with him today. You also said you wanted a daughter."

Mai looked at the grave. The ashes of eight generations of Harimas were probably here. She laid flowers at the foot of the stone. She took a step back, bowed her head, clapped her hands together twice, and held them in front of her in prayer. Kenji, Shuuji, Kaori, Itoko, Tenma, and Yakumo copied. "Ohayō gozaimasu (good morning; formal), Oto-san. I'm Mai. I know you're legally not my father, but that's okay. You can think of me as your daughter. I'm part of this family and I even changed my family name to Harima. I wish I had met you. Please watch over me and Onii-chan."

"Hi, Hiroki-oba-san," said Itoko to her uncle. "Kenji-kun really did a number over in Korea. You think you were badass in your youth? Well Kenji-kun and I took on not just one, but two real armies. I've done what I can for him. He's an adult now and he'll be fine. I'm not responsible for his well-being."

Shuuji stepped forward. "Hey, Oto-chan. I start my 6th and final year of elementary school this spring. I'll start junior high next year. I know you used to tell Nii-san and Oka-chan to always follow your dreams, but I don't know what I want yet… but that's okay, ne? You always said being young means finding what you want out of life. I miss you Oto-chan."

Tenma spoke up next and bowed. "Ohayō, Harima-sama, watashi wa onamae no Tsukamoto Tenma desu. Yoroshiku. I too will be part of this family and your daughter when your eldest son and my little sister get married."

The Shuuji, Mai, Kenji, Kaori, and Itoko sweat-dropped. Kaori giggled a little. She could imagine her husband's face lighting up and pulling his son and Yakumo into a bone-crushing hug… of course she had done the same when she met Yakumo on Kenji's birthday on December 1st.

"I make sure they sleep in separate room of course and patrol the house routinely," Tenma said proudly in her eccentric, but well-meaning way. "I make sure Yakumo knows all about the birds-and-bees."

Yakumo's face turned red and she bowed her head so her bangs helped cover her face. It had been bad once, but listening to Tenma give "the speech" a second time completely with slide-show, flashcards, and pamphlets… Yakumo wasn't able to look herself in the mirror for a week let alone Kenji.

"There is no stopping Onee-chan 'powa'!" said Tenma slamming a fist against her chest. "But don't worry, Kenji-kun is a good boy and will never hurt Yakumo."

Tenma stepped back and pushed Yakumo forward. Yakumo nervously bowed her head and looked at the grave marker. "Ohayō gozaimasu. Watashi wa onamae no Tsukamoto Yakumo desu. Yoroshiku."

She lowered her voice so no one could hear her. "I apologize about Nee-san, she means well but often says too much and says awkward things. She is a great big sister. I'll take care of Kenji. He needs someone and he isn't too bright. I worry people will take advantage of that. He told me you were once a manga-ka so I'm sure you know the business, but don't you worry. He has good friends, family, and me. He'll be okay."

Finally, Kenji stepped forward and bowed low. He sat on his knees and quietly addressed the grave. "Yo, Oto-san. Can you believe it? Fought a war and lived to tell the tale. I made a manga series and am getting national attention. It's even going international thanks to this American girl Yakumo is working with. You know for the first time in my life I feel like I have a real plan and that it isn't some fantasy."

He got up and then said. "Oh and thanks for the bike. I've taken good care of your motorcycle."

It had been the one thing he was left by his father. The old classic style motorcycle his father had treasured. Kenji remembered when his father was depressed he would take the bike out for a few hours then come home. He seemed like he was freed of anything and would come through the front door, pat Kenji on the head, and go back to writing his manga.

"I might even get an anime deal, I'm living my dream like I promised. Soon you soon, Oto-san."

Kenji walked back to the group. Yakumo adjusted the scarf wrapped around his neck. "You'll catch a cold if you don't wear it properly."

"Hai," he said with a small smirk. They headed out of the cemetery.

"I was going to take Mai-chan out today," said Kaori to her eldest son opening her car door Shuuji and Mai. Then with a sweetly devious smile she said, "And I'm taking Tenma-chan too."

The Nissan four-door luxury car Kaori drove was gone with a slam of a car door.

"You know they are probably conspiring to arrange your marriage, right?" stated Itoko as bluntly as ever.

"Of course," Kenji said shrugging. "But can you think of anyway to stop my mother? She came to Taegu the week after Chinese planes flew over and a big earthquake."

Itoko conceded the point and got into her convertible. She revved the engine and sped away. She was going a little fast for the road conditions, but Itoko was a professional. Kenji wasn't sure kind of professional, but it seemed to entail the skills of highly experienced stunt drivers.

Kenji walked over to his motorcycle. He passed Yakumo his army helmet. Yakumo couldn't help but notice the dents and a scratch mark that looked like bullet had grazed it. She got on behind Kenji and wrapped her armed around his torso. As Kenji drove a safe speed considering he had a passenger and to avoid the same fate as his father… though his father had taken the car that day.

Yakumo laid her head on Kenji's back and watched the world go by with her red eyes. It was one of those bright sunny days that come between snow falls. When only a couple of white fluffy clouds were lazily drifting across the sky and the sun shone brightly. She had come to understand why Kenji liked riding his bike around. It really did clear one's mind.

* * *

**1845 Hours; January 24****th****, 2011; Matsuri Restaurant, Yagami; Kanagawa Prefecture, Federation of Japan**

It was a wonder that they could fit 9 squads of 16 plus three lieutenants and one captain and guests inside the Matsuri. Not to mention the fact that people from others squads and squadrons were there.

Rukia looked in wonder at Kenji and Yakumo.

"Rukia, this is Kenji, he was in the fire team. He writes those mangas you love so much," said Ichigo.

"Well Yakumo helps too," said Kenji humbly.

"Harima-sama, Imotō-sama," said a voice behind them. "I'm Kozu Yuuka, I was in Mace Company, of the 5th Armor Division. I'm a huge fan."

"Gomen guys," said Fuyuki Takeichi. "I told her about knowing you two and then sure invited herself."

"I run your fansite and maintain it with your other loyal fans. Can I have you autograph, onegaishimasu (please; formal)?" she practically begged bowing deeply and holding two print pads with both hands.

"We have a fansite?" asked Kenji looking at Yakumo who merely shrugged since she never knew either.

"Hai! Your fans have grown his I got back home. There are people who read your mangas as far south as Taiwan, as far west as South Korea, as far north as Alaska, and as east as Austria. There are two sister sites created by your fans in North America and Germany."

"How long ago did your friend Emma-san start translating?" whispered Kenji.

"About three months ago. I think only the first two volumes are out in Canada, America, and Germany," she whispered back.

"So will you sign?" she asked giving them big wide eyes.

"Uh, hai," they said simultaneously. Kenji did a rough sketch of Arima Kanji and signed his penname Harima Hario. Yakumo did a sketch of Tsukamono Yamo, the female protagonist that appeared in the final volume, and signed her penname Imotō Yakumo.

"Arigato gozaimasu," Kozu bowing low again and squealing as she skipped off with her autographs.

"Fuyuki-kun, you have some weird friends," said Kenji.

"Oh, and yours ain't?" Fuyuki asked pointing to Renji and his tattoos.

"Mind your own business."

"I'm a big fan too," confessed Rukia.

"You know anything about this fansite, do you?" asked Kenji.

"You didn't know?" asked Rukia not wanting to admit in front of Kenji, Yakumo, or her boyfriend Ichigo that she helped maintain the site too. "Well, it's been on the net for over year."

"Don't look at me, I just date her," said Ichigo. Rukia stopped on his foot.

Hiroyoshi was taking drink orders from the officers. Captain Hitsugaya was companied by a petite brunette with her hair tied in a bun under a piece of cloth. Hanging on the chair was a baseball cap with the silhouette of an aircraft carrier and written in gold letters:

JFS Sutsuru

CVN-01

"Oi, sergeant, how about another round?" asked First Lieutenant Matsumoto Rangiku.

"Gomen, Lieutenant, but I have to cut you off," he said noticing how loud she was getting in her drunken state. It amazed him that she could talk and even stand properly.

"Matsumoto, shut up and sit down. Can you be more responsible like Lieutenant Urashima?" barked Captain Hitsugaya while Hinamori giggled a little at the look of disappointment at Hiroyoshi's refusal to serve her any more alcohol.

"Since when have you been responsible?" asked a long hair brunette with a raised eyebrow. She was seated next to Second Lieutenant Urashima Keitaro.

"I appreciate your kind words, Naru," said Lt. Urashima.

Hiroyoshi walked back to the bar.

"Oi, watch where your eyes are," he barked seeing a couple of men eye Sarah in her who was wearing a long-sleeve kimono instead of the red Chinese-style dress. The men averted their eyes and tried to look very busy.

"You don't have to do that," said Sarah rolling her eyes.

"Gomen, but it pisses me off. There is more to you than your chest," he said filling glasses. She shrugged, kissed him on the cheek, and picked up a tray of food. "Yuuya, take this table 14."

"Got it," said Yuuya picking up the orders of house specials and taking it to Yūki, her fiancée Natsuyami, Sagano, Fuyuki, Ichijou, and Karasuma.

Hiroyoshi looked around the room as he delivered the drinks. All his former classmates were in the restaurant. Tenma was talking animatedly with Karasuma who occasionally nodded. Suō Mikoto and Hanai Haruki were dancing in the middle of the room that had been cleared as a dance floor. Imadori Kyousuke was talking with Ichijou Karen quietly about something. Nishimoto Ganji was talking to Yoshidayama Jirou about the video store and his plans to open his own studio, what kind of studio Hiroyoshi didn't want to know.

Ōtsuka Mai was talking with her loyal band of paratroopers and mocking her rival, Tōgō Masakazu. They had been class representatives and at each others throats during third year. Nara Kentaro and Takano Akira were sitting alone together and he couldn't help, but notice how close they seemed to be. If he didn't know better, Hiroyoshi swore he saw a soft smile on Takano's face. He had to be seeing things… right?

Yūki Tsumugi was slowly revolving around the dance floor with the man that had introduced himself as Natsuyami Keisuke.

Sagano and Fuyuki sharing a joke of some kind judging by the laughter as they set up their instruments.

Lara Gonzalez and Harry MacKenzie were sitting in the back and watching the party. Suga Ryūhei, Hiroyoshi's best friend, was talking with Tawaraya Satsuki, a girl that once had a huge crush on Hiroyoshi.

"I think he's hitting on her," said Sarah.

"Good for him, maybe he'll get lucky for once," said Hiroyoshi.

"What do you mean?" asked Sarah.

"Get a date or girlfriend, not the other kind of lucky," he said. "That would be too much for him to hope for."

Sarah giggled and walked off to fill out more orders. Hiroyoshi looked towards where Kenji was. His family was at a table with him. Tenma had brought Karasuma. Kenji seemed to be talking with him and enjoying himself. Hiroyoshi couldn't help but notice Kenji was doing nearly all the talking and Karasuma only gave one or two word responses. To his utter shock, he saw Sawachika Eri and a Western man with her approach Kenji. Not only did she not explode, but she was smiling pleasantly when she spoke with Yakumo.

"That's Sawachika-sempai's boyfriend," said Sarah pointing to the Western as she walked pass.

"Ah," said Hiroyoshi nodding. They didn't talk lot and Eri walked towards Takano who was eating daintily with Nara.

"Everything alright?" asked Hiroyoshi as passed Kenji.

"Hai, sir," said Kenji with a nod.

Kenji had been terrified when Eri showed up, but the conversation had been brief and cleared the air for them both. He thought that maybe he could be friends with all his classmates. At that moment Yoshidayama walked by and glanced at Yakumo. Kenji saw his lips for the words "nice rack".

**Cras****h!**

Kenji slid his leg out from under the table and subtly tripped Yoshiayama. Okay, so maybe not with all his classmates.

"Should I be concerned?" asked Haruki walking over with Mikoto and looking at Yoshidayama.

"Should you ever?" asked Kenji with a grin.

Haruki sighed, patted Kenji on the back, and took a seat.

Kenji looked around the table. In April he had no friends other than Yakumo, no hope for getting a girlfriend… as far as he knew at the time, and no hope for any higher education or career. Now he was surrounded by friends, family, had a wonderful girlfriend who had been his only friend not too long ago, and had a paying job.

His life was as prefect as it ever had been and he hoped it would last.

* * *

I wish it didn't have to end, though that is why I'm going to write a sequel. It took me nearly a year to finish this story. I wrote two since I joined and I gave up on the first in favor of this story cause I thought it was better and I had more to say. I might want to finish the first story later. I can't believe I did. I finished Brothers in Arms: Eastern World Exploding. I fucking did it! Thanks for not bailing on me after the first chapter and if you're reading this then you probably finished the story. For reading a fanfic over 300,000 words long you deserve a congratulations too. Thanks everyone. See you soon.

Respectfully Submitted

Jack Hector Kamiya

The End

* * *

Appendix

1. A Japanese car built for use in Japan has the front passenger on the left and the driver on the right. Japan for some reason I do not know adopted the British left-side of the road driving, especially when the US is normally more influential on Japan than the UK.

2. Japan comprises of 47 prefectures. The prefectures are grouped into 8 regions. Hokkaido is both prefecture and its own District. The Kantō District is small, but dense district that comprises of 7 prefectures around or near Tokyo-wan (Tokyo Bay). It has Ibaraki Prefecture, Tochigi Prefecture, Gunma Prefecture, Saitama Prefecture, Chiba Prefecture, Tokyo Prefecture, and Kanagawa Prefecture. It also should be noted that when I say football I am referring to soccer.

3. The Spetsnaz were the Soviet Unions military special forces, as oppose to the KGB who were government not military. Spetsnaz are under the command of the GRU, the military intelligence service. They have a branch in an internal security unit under the command of the Ministry of Interior. Another branch part of the Army such as mountain combat units and airborne infantry. There is also a navy unit that operates with the Navy's Marine Corps and a covert action wing, much like the US Navy SEALs. Spetsnaz continue their service under the GRU which is still the military intelligence service in the Russian Federation today.

4. Other branches of Pacific Command includes: United States Army Pacific Command (USARPAC) is based in Fort Shafter, Hawaii. Marine Forces Pacific (MARFORPAC) is based in Camp Holland McIntyeire Smith (Camp H. M. Smtih), Hawaii. Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) is based in Hickam Air Forces Base, Hawaii.

5. Shoujo means young girl. Shoujo manga are mangas intended for girls from grade school to high school. If memory serves, Rukia spent some of the early episodes reading Shoujo manga to learn about the human world.

6. Japanese enlisted soldiers and NCOs wear their rank insignia on their shoulders like officers. So do several other militaries. British and American enlisted soldiers and NCOs wear their rank insignias on their sleeves.

7. Vehicle Identification Number or VIN is a system used internationally to identify cars, trucks, and buses. They are found on dashboards and driver side doors. Auto companies also place a third, and sometimes fourth, VIN in a location only revealed to law enforcement agencies. There are 17 characters. Three of them in various spots are unique to the manufacturer. Four are numbers make the country it is made in. Japan is JA-JT. There are a list of other things, but you can look it up online.

8. The AN-94 is a rather expensive gun, or at least compared to Kalashnikovs. The AK-108 is not in service with the Russian military, but would be more cost effective than old AK-47. Currently the Russians still use the AK-74m that was introduced in 1991 as an upgraded version of the standard AK-74. It is not clear what will be the future mainstay weapon of the Russian Army, but the AK-101 will not be their standard assault rifle because it uses NATO 5.52x45mm. AK-103s and AN-94s are both in limited service. The future of the AK-108 is not determined yet.

9. Sankyu is a something loosely called Ingurish and is supposed to be 'Thank You'. Ingurish is English with a heavy Japanese accent. If you ever listen to the band Beat Crusaders you'll know what Ingurish sounds like. Japanese don't have all the same sounds or pronunciations that are in English. In the "T-H" sound like in 'Think'. Japanese normally replace it with the letter 'S'. There is no 'L' in the Japanese language and is often replaced with an 'R' which is pronounced in a way sort of close. Japanese think English words sound cool and teenagers often use them like Americans often use words from the Spanish, French, German, Italian, and even Japanese languages. When was the last time you said something like: ciao, hola, si, adios, amigo, bonjour, merci, gesudheit, konnichiwa, or sayonara?

10. The Chūgoku District is the far western end of the island of Honshu. It consists of five prefectures: Hiroshima Prefecture, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Shimane Prefecture, Tottori Prefecture, and Okayama Prefecture.

11. This song is called Gortoz a Ran which is Celtic for "It Awaits" or "I'm Waiting". It is the ending theme for the movie Black Hawk Down. It's a very beautiful song which you can find on youtube. Try "Gortoz a Ran" or Black Hawk Down Soundtrack. It is available for purchase if you buy the Black Hawk Down Soundtrack along with "Hunger", the opening theme.

12. Amis is a nickname the Germans use to refer to Americans. Americans sometimes refer to Germans as "Jerry", a nickname more commonly used by the British. Americans sometimes use the more offensive nickname "Kraut" which I would not advise you use. Germans refer to the English as "Tommies" or "Tommy". I'm not sure if it applies to Scotts, Welsh, and Irish too.

13. Canada does not have a longer name. It is only called Canada. I just thought Commonwealth sounded cooler and I got it from when Canada was part of the British Commonwealth and its other colonies like India, South Africa, and Egypt.

14. Ainu were a group of Japanese had once live in Sakhalin. After World War II, the Soviet Union deported all of the Ainu to Japan, much to the outrage of the Japanese government as well as the Ainu. Slavs are a group that originated in around Poland and over the centuries spread across Europe. Almost all of the Eastern Europeans are Slavic and partly Slavic.


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